Emperor, go and set traps around the Forsaken Lands Gateway, which has been dead and disused for three cycles.

Go and collect a summonstone that we already negotiated for from the Moogle near Mount Gulg.

Go stand guard over territory that has been solidly in Chaos' possession for several cycles.

It was grunt work. They had the Emperor doing grunt work.

And he knew why.

The Emperor could trace the origins of their suspicions back to his involvement in the entire war, since his first day in the 2nd cycle.

Garland was the first warrior that Chaos ever "called" - if his existence in this endless loop could be referred to as a "calling". He fought fiercely against Cosmos' Warrior of Light, but could only force an impasse between them. When Cosmos called three more warriors in rapid succession at the turn of the 2nd, Garland needed assistance.

The Emperor was the obvious next choice. His power was beyond question after splitting his soul to conquer both heaven and hell, ascending over them to rule them both. He already knew the nuances of war and of peace; when to lead and when to command; how to bluff and how to strategize. It all came naturally with sovereignty. Back then, Chaos revered his abilities and trusted him implicitly. He allowed the Emperor unlimited freedom to do all that he had to do to defeat a force they were overmatched against. It required immense strategy, one of the Emperor's gifts. They retreated back while the Emperor watched Cosmos' pawns, noted their comings and goings, analyzed their strengths and weaknesses, formed offensive plans, and handed out orders - even to Garland.

Chaos even entrusted him with analyzing his own weakness as well and formulating defensive plans. It was far more difficult then, back when warriors were passionate about the fight and the battles were over every other Gateway. Fueled by personal vendettas and events long forgotten by the newly called warriors. When carnage reigned over the land and the entire map was destroyed before it all reset.

The simple answer was that Garland and Chaos were keeping him busy because they were afraid of him. They were afraid of his mind for strategy and for the plans he could possibly make. And they knew he was planning something, as Chaos and Garland both so kindly pointed out on two different occasions. Because they knew he was too valuable to dispose of but too dangerous to be left alone they kept him around, but disallowed him a single second to himself to plan.

He was now on his fifth, perhaps his sixth "mission", as they called it, and he had yet to have a break. The moment he completed a task they had him report directly to them. They confirmed it was finished, then they sent him on another without any time to rest in between. Every single menial task they set for him, he had completed no matter how beneath him it was.

Their little plan was working. The Emperor had appeased Garland, and by extension Chaos, and in doing so he hadn't completed a shred of work to further his own plans of cyclic control.

On the third or fourth mission, he had tried to plead his case to them, reminding them he was better suited for tasks of higher importance and intellect. He tried to reference the Evacuation of the 3rd Cycle. When Garland, the Emperor, the Cloud of Darkness, and Golbez wound up trapped behind enemy lines, deep within Cosmos' territory. They launched an attack at the Emperor's suggestion on the goddess and on her four warriors: the Warrior of Light, Firion, the Onion Knight, and Cecil. They were surprised to find that Cosmos had called two more warriors they weren't prepared to face. They were quickly overtaken and were run out of Sanctuary but couldn't teleport out of Cornelia - Cosmos' warriors had sabotaged the Teleport Stone and locked down Gateways and trapped them there. The Emperor adapted immediately. He used his powers to hide and reveal them as they traveled around Cornelia. He feinted attacks at Gateways to draw Cosmos' warriors out in a certain direction then led the Chaos warriors the other way. He chanced across Chaos' Gateways and holed them up for hours to rest, setting up traps and defending them there. It took cyclic days for them to make their way back to Chaos' territory and they had barely made it. The Warrior of Light and Cecil nearly ran the four of them down east of Mount Gulg, but it was during a time they still respected the borders to the Realm of Discord. They stopped on the border line and refused to cross into Chaos' territory without Cosmos' permission.

His pleas fell on deaf ears.

Despite all he had done for Chaos and for Garland, he wasn't allowed a single slip up or a falter. He couldn't shirk the responsibilities and work on his own plans despite how much they should have owed him. As Garland reminded him countless times, he was poised and ready to dispose of the Emperor at a moment's notice, with Chaos' approval.

Then again, he would think in retrospection, perhaps it was just as well he was out and about the Realm of Discord. He may not have run into Cecil and Kain otherwise.

He was on his way to the empty Dreams of a Flying Castle Gateway in the Mirage Sandsea when they showed up. Cecil's stride was aggressive. His shoulders were back and perfectly aligned, but he had his spear in his hands and was nearly stomping across the sand. His eyes were bright and alert, with an uncharacteristic rage lighting the blue color of his irises. And there was something else there, too. Something deep-set and exhausted that in no way diminished the clear anger there. Kain was less forceful, but was clearly on guard and poised for an attack like a cat curling up to pounce.

A sort of bubbling joy fluttered the Emperor's heart in his chest at the sight of them. They were looking for him to avenge their dear Rosa, no doubt. His fingers twitched and a smile crept up his face in the anticipation of having to defend himself from this particular ire. He couldn't wait to see the pain on their faces, or the ferocity with which they would go after him. He could already picture toying with them, egging them on and stringing the battle out while they slowly crumbled under the emotion of her death. He regretted not being the one to kill her himself. He almost wished he had a taunting piece to use against them - her breath leave her, or perhaps watching the light fade in her eyes and the warmth of her body bleed out.

He thought about ignoring them for now and hiding for a bit to watch as they stomped and fumed and huffed through the sand, letting their anger run its course while they looked and looked and never found him. Unfortunately, there weren't many places to take cover in the Sandsea, and he couldn't put up a shade in time. He was spotted quickly and Kain alerted Cecil, pointing over to him.

The Emperor let them approach. He quickly analyzed the fight in front of him. He noted Cecil's speed coupled with Kain's outright strength. Both had the experience and capacity to be strategic if they so chose, but their actual attacks and fighting styles were straight-forward and solid. Misdirection and cunning would be his key to victory against them. He could toy with them as he intended and tire them both out. He could take them on and most certainly win.

He drew his staff from the air and it appeared in his hands. He twirled it and smirked at them in a way he knew was perfectly smug. "I know why you're here," he hoped it said, "and I'm not afraid to do to you what I did to her." He wanted them to know he wasn't afraid of their challenge. They slowed and stopped, leaving about twenty feet between them. Just to bother them before they fought, the Emperor thought of a quick taunt.

"My sincere condolences on your loss. I heard your girl Rosa fell not long ago. I assume you're here for revenge-"

"You need better informants!" Cecil yelled across the dunes. "And better assassins as well, it seems! She survived. Barely, I'll admit, but she survived."

The Emperor scanned Cecil's face and eyes for the tell. For the proof that he was lying. In Cecil's eyes there was the rage that the Emperor reveled in, but as he looked closer the rage was proud, clear, and sharp. He couldn't sense a lie in Cecil's words. He even carried himself with the same pride and conviction in his words.

"You jest-" the Emperor spat.

"I promise you," Cecil growled so quickly he nearly cut the Emperor off, "I promise you if she had died, that smile would have been your last."

All the excitable energy in the Emperor's heart seemed to bleed out as Cecil's words sank in. In its place, a feeling of exhaustion burdened him, weighing down on his shoulders. He was struck for a loss of words.

He had gained so much freedom from knowing she was gone. Knowing she was the only one who could encounter and destroy him before he accomplished his goals, and knowing she was unable to do so ever again was an extreme relief to him. She had stopped occupying his fears at all. The knowledge that she was still alive was so instantaneously draining, all the will to engage Cecil and Kain on her behalf again flooded out of him.

He would have to readjust his entire focus to accommodate her once again. He'd have to try to fit her into his planning in between the menial tasks Garland and Chaos set for him. The thought of it was so undesirable to him. He let Garland and Chaos distract him for far too long already. His plans were damned if she were to get in his way again.

That, and Ultimecia was another matter entirely.

He let his shoulders deflate, and Cecil caught the action.

"Not expecting that?" he taunted right back.

The Emperor restored his façade as quickly as he could, hardening his eyes and setting his jaw in his usual mask of confidence and control. He had nothing left to be confident in, except that he could still win this fight. He clenched his staff in his fist.

"Then surely if she is alive, you have no reason to seek me out! You're smart enough to know that attacking me is unwise." Perhaps he could avoid the fight altogether if he made them see how outmatched they were. His exhaustion turned to rage that manifested in his clenched fist as the purple power he commanded. It crackled and grew in his hands forcing them to tremble, and he shot an orb of power to the side that exploded in his version of a display of power.

"I did not come here to fight you," Cecil said evenly, suddenly cool. "I came to level a threat."

The Emperor saw Kain's head snap in Cecil's direction. From the way his frown deepened, that wasn't what he and Cecil had discussed before coming after him.

"I'm here to tell you," Cecil continued, ignoring Kain's reaction, "that if you attack her again, or target her again, or come within any distance of her, if you even look at her, if you so much as sniff in her direction, we will hunt you down and we will destroy you. We will end you just like you tried to do to her. And where you failed, we will not."

The Emperor watched Cecil's body language change with each level of the threat. His shoulders rolled forward and he bristled, looking more like an enraged animal than a man. His fists clenched so hard they shook and his voice trembled, strained through his clenched teeth and set jaw. Cecil lowered his head, glaring up at the Emperor so he could see every rage in his eyes.

"Clearly," the Emperor said, blinking methodically and shaking his head. He made a show of tossing his head once and lifting his brow, staring down his nose at Cecil. "You mean what you say." He lightened his tone into a haughty, belittling pitch and let Cecil know how beneath him he thought the threat was. How unafraid he was. "Is that all?"

Kain inched forward, drawing level with Cecil. He kept his eyes on the Emperor while he said, "We're not going to destroy him now? Isn't that why we came here?"

" . . . No. Not now." The way Cecil said it, while staring the Emperor in the eye, sounded like they were going to do it later. Cosmos and her warriors were planning his demise just as Garland and Chaos were.

"That's not what we planned."

"I know."

Kain scoffed and twirled his lance back to a ready position. "No. I will not let him go."

The Emperor listened to their exchange, and thought to rile them up a bit. "Of course. How could you live with yourself if you did? How could you return to your dear, dear Rosa, look her in the eye, and tell her you let me walk away?"

The taunt was enough for Kain. He charged forward, crossing the distance to the Emperor with his long, deliberate stride. The Emperor waited until he was close enough to strike, drawing back his lance, before he teleported ten feet away, to his left. Kain stumbled through the lunge and stabbed his lance down into the sand, using it to swing himself around and change direction. He charged at the Emperor again.

He created a purple hexagonal Protect barrier that glowed brightly around his form. Kain landed an overhand swing that clanged off the panels, then fell harmlessly away. He recovered, jabbing for the Emperor's chest. He lifted his hand, and when the lance stopped at the barrier again, he reached through and grabbed the lance. He tugged Kain forward until their noses were almost touching through the barrier.

"I have no more interest in fighting you. Leave now, and I will-"

Cecil half-heartedly ran forward, if only to help Kain. The Emperor released Kain's weapon and the two of them swung together, a streak of scorching-hot white light arcing after Cecil's blade. The Emperor held his staff across his body and blocked them both overhead. He pushed them to the side and teleported a safe distance away.

Kain was very serious about the fight, and would probably run him down if he could. Cecil and the Emperor seemed to be in agreement: a fight at this moment was inopportune. For the Emperor, he wasn't emotionally invested any more. He wanted nothing more to do with Rosa or her retinue or entourage or whatever Cecil and Kain wanted to call themselves. For Cecil, it was a matter of principle. If the Emperor had to guess at the sentiments, this possibly felt cold-blooded to him. He hoped to play on those emotions.

Cecil ran forward while Kain crouched down and Jumped directly overhead. The Emperor planted a Dreary Cell on the ground in Cecil's way to halt him, and it worked. Cecil ground to a halt in the sand, kicking up a bit when his armored feet sank. The Emperor turned his attention to Kain, descending down on him at murderous speed. Lance lifted over his head and pointed down in front of him, straight for the Emperor. From the way his teeth were grit, clenched in a silent snarl, he was intent on ending the Emperor.

The Emperor once again waited until Kain was close enough, then deposited a few blinking purple and yellow bombs directly in his path. Kain's eyes widened and the Emperor thought he saw him lean back and away from them. He drew his arm back and hurled his lance down at the Emperor, through the bombs. They detonated each other from the impact of the weapon, and though the Emperor deflected it easily enough, Kain finished his descent. He planted his feet on either side of the Emperor's chest, and with the full power of his legs kicked the Emperor back into the sand. The Emperor's back slammed against the ground and he slid backwards, picking up sand that grated on his skin and gummed in his hair. He clamored to his feet while Kain searched around for his lance. When he found it picked it up out of the sand and faced the Emperor again for another round.

Kain was far more serious about this fight than the Emperor could afford. He quickly thought to stall him, long enough to give him a chance to leave safely. He threw his palms out in a gesture of peace, letting his staff float behind him. "Alright, alright! Wait!" he pleaded.

"Give me a reason not to destroy you!" Kain yelled back, brandishing his lance. He twirled it twice around him and held it poised for the Emperor again. The Emperor ignored him, glancing instead to Cecil to manipulate the emotions he identified earlier.

"Cecil! You wouldn't be so cruel as to kill an unprepared man in cold blood!"

"Cold blood-" Cecil hissed, forcing an incredulous chuckle.

"Yes. Think on that poor, defenseless village you destroyed!" The knowledge he had learned during his and Rosa's sparring match emerged suddenly from the deepest parts of his mental reserve. He silently thanked himself for thinking well enough ahead to save the information. "Think on your vows as a Paladin-"

"Do not seek to play on my sentiments! You don't know what it means to be a Paladin. We act on what is just, and the situation calls for your demise!"

It was the Emperor's turn to laugh. "Two against one?! That's hardly fair-"

"I think Rosa would agree it's hardly fair! I think you even sent three to try and destroy her!"

The Emperor cursed the hole he had talked himself into, and couldn't immediately think of anything to talk his way out with. Instead, he changed tactics and went for another half-honest approach that could stun them out of their anger and earn him some time. Cecil would appreciate an honest man.

" . . . I cannot deny that I was the one to orchestrate the attack on her." He stared into Cecil's face, into the deep blue. He softened his eyes as much as he could. "I was . . . unreasonable." He sighed, letting his staff fall to the sand behind him. It was a small gesture and he could easily call it back, but if it made him look less threatening, he would sacrifice it for the time being. "When Ultimecia informed me, when I thought her dead almost immediately after, I thought to be done with her entirely. I had no additional plans to attack her again or send others after her. If it would abate your anger, I can assure you now that I have far, far more important things to do now that I've abandoned the very thought of her."

Cecil squinted his eyes, no doubt trying to gauge if the Emperor was lying. There was nothing for the Emperor to hide, and he hoped he translated that into his own gaze.

"I'd prefer not to fight you. But if it would appease you, then destroy me. Kill me, as you did the villagers! I only warn you I will not go willingly."

Cecil paused for a long time. After what seemed like forever, he sighed. " . . . I did not come here to kill you."

"Cecil," Kain hissed. "Finish him! For Rosa!"

"No. His fate is sealed," Cecil whispered, though the Emperor heard it still. "Cosmos and Warrior are already planning it. I'm only trying to protect her in the meantime. But let me repeat," he said aloud, shouting it to the Emperor, "if you even look at her again-"

"I understand. I will not pursue her further, I give you my word. Just know this: if the natural turns of the cycle lead us to cross paths . . . I will not pledge the pacifist. Only then will you see me raise a hand against her again."

"I would expect no less," Cecil said dully. "Leave, now."

"Ah," the Emperor thought. "There is His Majesty the King. It is you who trespasses in the Realm of Discord. But I will do as you ask."

The Emperor disappeared from the Sandsea, having left his task incomplete. Despite that, he couldn't muster up the energy to care about Chaos or Garland at the moment. He was still reeling from the news that Rosa was alive and well, and able to get in his way once again. He also knew it meant that Ultimecia had betrayed him. For some reason, she thought to lie to him about her. He would have to concern himself with that as well.

He would not let her transgression slide.