Rebirth of a Holy Dragoon
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. OCs belong to various friends. I think you know the drill by now.
Notes: We made it to chapter 40?! *horrified gasp* Better buckle up, I'm not planning on stopping any time soon. Not that anyone is actually reading this, of course. If you do, give a review so I know you're there!
Warnings: You don't remember the list of warnings I gave before? Fine. Here. Cursing, potential OOC, OC x Canon, stupid fluffy romance, sex, angst, self-insert author avatar, shitty storytelling.
FIC START!
Chapter Forty
Cid pulled on his uniform. He didn't like wearing it, but it was his duty. The armor was never comfortable no matter how many times he had it cleaned. He pulled the dragon-head like helmet over his head and secured the mask in front of his face. When he grabbed his spear, he couldn't stop the echoes of his daughter's voice resounding through his memory. Seeing her the way she was after that assault attempt, how she couldn't even look at him, just ate through him. He placed his spear into his holster, feeling Canti's burden weigh him down. He was so preoccupied with the past that he'd forgotten to take care of the present.
"Captain," Richard said, sticking his head into the changing room.
"Grand Dragoon, sir!"
"Are you fit to participate in this search?"
"I am," Cid said, giving a salute. "I have faltered recently, but I know the price of such falter. Allow me to assist with apprehending this criminal."
"Understood." Richard said, stepping away.
He let Cid come out and the two of them walked through the Warriors of the Water command center. There were whole platoons of the men lined up, standing at attention, waiting for their orders. The captain of each platoon were going over orders, and everyone stopped both Cid and Richard for reminders of each platoon's current orders. The Grand Dragoon himself was a well decorated veteran, having slain many monsters and helped with other official decrees from Leviathan's desk. And he was proud of all he had done in the name of keeping the country safe.
"According to the witness testimony and the victim's account of what happened, the perpetrator was a man wearing a black cloak. He had a long, pimply nose, but most of his face was obscured by a hood. This man is apparently as short as the victim, and heavyset," Richard read out from a report he'd been handed by another man. "Does anyone here know any man that fits a description of being short, heavyset, with a long pimply nose?"
Cid thought about it for a moment. He'd seen someone like that recently. They called on the Sphere. "I've seen someone like that," he said. "This man called on the Sphere to my home."
"Did he?" Richard asked. "We will have to go through all the calls made on your Sphere to gather more information, then."
"Do it," Cid nodded. "Anything to catch him and make him pay for what he's done."
"I have to agree with you on that," Richard smiled as he headed towards his desk. He sat down and flipped the console built into his desk on, entering several passwords and changing a few values here and there. The program that allowed him to oversee calls made on the Sphere system required more authority to access than most people had, but Richard was the highest ranking military official in all of the country. He went through the calls made from up to a week ago, not listening to every detail, but looking at the one the conversation was being held with. Eventually he came to the call that Cid mentioned. "This guy. That's the one, right?"
"That's the one I'm talking about."
"I wonder if it's possible to get either the witness or the victim to confirm if this is him," Richard thought aloud. He looked at the time. He had hoped that both of the children at his home would be in bed by now. "If so, we can just cross reference him within the Dagurreo Database."
"I know for certain my daughter is not awake at this time," Cid said. "However, knowing how serious Kain is about his duty… he probably isn't asleep."
"Kain could wake her, but I don't think he would."
"What of the Palamecian boy?"
"I don't know them well enough to say if this would be disturbing them…" Richard grunted.
"I don't care if it is disturbing them," Cid said sternly. "Make the call."
Richard flipped through the files for the contact information for the Palamecian Estate. He knew that they were going to need someone to confirm something before they started the search. Cid's haste was understandable. He dialed the number and put it through to display at the Sphere apparatus built into his desk.
…
Mateus loved the night. It was the time of day when he was the most comfortable. Most people were asleep, so they couldn't snoop into what he was doing or ask billions of annoying questions. Since he was now restricted to his overwhelmingly huge mansion due to the executive order, and Garden would be closed until all of this was resolved, now he could stay up as late as he wanted. His favorite place to sit and think out all of his dreams was the study, which was full of books all the way up to the ceiling. His father had made this place into a library dedicated to nothing other than just amassing information that might be useful at any given time. The black mage in training climbed up the ladder to pull down a few chosen texts before coming back down to sit in the chair he loved so much that he christened it his personal throne. He put the books on the nearby table and brought his coil oil lamp closer to his chair. The book he cracked open, titled Interpretations of Dreams and Daydreams, would serve his purpose quite nicely. He'd all ready read a few other books on dreams and their meanings, and he'd been compiling a notebook of all the details he could figure out based on all of his research thus far.
As he started on the first chapter of his book, there was a rapping nose at his window. Mateus looked at it, confused, as it sounded something like the branches of trees being blown about by a storm and being knocked against the window. It wasn't raining tonight, was it? It would be a shame to not take notice of that, as he liked the smell of freshly fallen rain. He didn't hear it, but why let the chance pass him by? He got out of his chair to open the window, only to find that it wasn't raining, but a moogle fluttered there with a letter in its tiny little paws.
"Mognet, kupo. Delivery for one Mateus Palamecia." The moogle dropped the letter into his hands and floated off without another word.
Mateus stared at it. He remembered having given a Moogle Flute to the Highwind Family to give to Cantirena as a gift for her successful ceremony. Perhaps she all ready knew what it was and put it to use? He carried the letter back to his seat, using his long fingernail to rip the envelope open.
Mateus,
I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but I'll never forget what you have done today. Who knows what could have happened to my cousin had you not stepped in. I pride myself in my ability to watch over her, or rather, I did take pride in it until now.
Thank you.
-Kain Highwind
He couldn't keep himself from laughing. Oh, how delicious. Kain, of all people, thanking him? For being there to look after his cousin? The fact that Kain now had his doubts in his ability to take care of his cousin was only the icing on the cake! He didn't think this scheme would go so well. Mateus reached into the desk drawer to pull out his family's own Moogle Flute to write a reply. He might as well, since he was awake anyway.
But before he could get started on that, a maid came to the door of the study. "Forgive me, young master," she said. "You have a call on the Sphere."
"This late?" Mateus asked. "Tell them to call at a reasonable hour."
"I cannot do that. It is the Grand Dragoon on the line."
"Is that so?" he folded up the letter neatly and placed it into his robe pocket, heading out towards the main hall of the mansion to check the Sphere. When he pressed the button to receive the call, Richard Highwind appeared on screen, though he was wearing his complete Dragon Armor that covered most of his human facial features with ones that resembled a dragon's. "I am Mateus Palamecia. This better be important to call this late at night."
"Forgive my intrusion, but because you are the main witness to this case, I must ask you a final question," Richard said. His voice was calm, yet stern.
"Go right ahead."
"I'm going to show you a picture we believe is the suspect." Richard clicked a few things to make a picture of the man who called himself Borghen during the call with Cid. "Does this look like the man you saw this afternoon?"
"Oh! That man does indeed look familiar," Mateus said with a nod. "While he was wearing a hooded cape during the incident, I can tell you that is somewhat what the man looks like…"
"That's all I needed. We will issue a warrant for this Borghen and begin the search."
"Good luck…" Mateus bowed his head a little. "If I may inquire, Sir Grand Dragoon?"
"Yes?"
"How is my classmate? She seemed quite out of it last I saw her."
"She is handling it as well as she can," Richard answered. "Do be aware of the orders given by Leviathan because of this. Please stay inside and be aware of any strange activity."
"I will do just that…" Mateus said. "…thank you for all you and your men do for us."
"Thank you for all you and your family do for our country." Richard hung up, and Mateus sighed as he turned from the Sphere. He rubbed his temples. This was going to be such a headache to deal with. If things didn't result in his dear songbird loving him, he might just begin to murder people out of frustration at this point.
He walked away from it, and instead of going back to his study, he headed down a set of stairs to the basement. In the room the furthest away from the stairs, he found Borghen standing there. "You're the man of the hour," Mateus said. "Not only does my first love grant me a thank you letter for all that's transpired for the day, but the entire government has shut down Garden to prevent you from getting a hand on any other children."
"Sir, you aren't going to throw me to the wolves, are you? Not after all I've done for you," Borghen said, almost whimpering.
"No. Of course not, Borghen. You have more to do."
"I do?!"
Mateus nodded. "I want her successfully kidnapped. Not harmed, just terrified beyond anything she's ever felt before…"
"I'm not sure that's a great idea, young master," Borghen said, scratching the back of his head.
"I don't care what you think. You'll find Cantirena and you'll bring her to this place," Mateus wrote down a few details on a slip of paper and passed it to him. "Do not get caught. I had to identify your face, though I did not give any name or personal details."
"Where would she be now?!"
"She has two homes. Check them both. If she isn't there, then get in touch. We'll track down other places she could be," Mateus gave him a glare. "Get out of my house."
Borghen didn't really seem like he wanted to go through with this, but he wasn't given a choice. He made his way quickly out into the night and darted off into the brush.
Mateus climbed back up the stairs and headed to the study. "Don't be afraid, Cantirena. Your savior is coming for you," he smiled. He sat down to finally write that letter. It had been so long since Kain had given him any positive affection. After he thought about it a while, he wondered if there was away he could have both of the Highwind cousins to himself? They would both make lovely little toys.
…
Hikari sat on her bed, reading a textbook about the complexities of time magic. She was restless as she was worried about her closest friend. As she turned the page to open a diagram about the process of converting magic into something that could change the flow of time, she thought she heard something outside. She wondered if it was raining, because she couldn't hear the rain on the roof of her house. She climbed off her bed and went over to the window, where she saw something across the street.
"That's Canti's house…" she whispered, squinting her eyes. The streetlights weren't enough to see what was going on, but she could tell that something out there was moving around very fast. She wanted to scream out, but instead of being heard, she ran down the stairs to see her father was sitting at the table waiting for an announcement from the Sphere. "Dad!" she said in a loud whisper. "There's something out there!"
"What?" Auron looked up at her. "What did you see?"
"It's so dark that I couldn't make out what it was. But I know there's something outside. Across the street. At Canti's house!"
"Perhaps Cid has finally brought her home…" Auron suggested.
"I don't think that's it," she said, shaking her head. "It was loud. Like. Crashing."
Auron's eyes widened. "Hikari. Go back up to your room. Do not come out until I come to tell you I've returned." He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I will investigate."
She obeyed, but she couldn't help but be scared for him. She closed the room and locked the door, keeping a view of the window, but doing her best to stay out of sight from anyone that could be out there. Hikari saw the shadow of Auron at the edge of their yard. There were yells, but she couldn't make out what there were. She saw him draw his sword. The shadow of whatever or whoever it was darted off, and Auron ran at him to the edge of their property before coming back in. She shook there, backing away from the window, not knowing what to make of this situation.
As she turned away, waiting for Auron to come back up, there was a sound at the window again. Hikari jumped almost ten feet before reaching for her katana and ready to fight whatever it was that had come for her. But what she found was just a moogle holding a letter.
"Mognet, kupo! Delivery for Hikari Murasaki!" the moogle said.
Hikari just stared at it.
"Mognet, kupo! Delivery for Hikari Murasaki!" it said again, this time more urgently. "Take your letter, kupo!"
"You came at the worst time ever," Hikari said, taking the letter from the moogle. "I thought you were some… never mind. Thank you for the letter…" She watched the moogle float away and put the letter on her desk. She still waited for Auron to come back to tell her things were safe, but he wasn't coming. She frowned. What did he see?! She slowly made her way to the door to see if she could hear anything.
Auron's voice was speaking, but he wasn't speaking to her. "I'm calling to report a break in at a house across the street from my own. The Highwind family live there. Yes. We're on Junon Street."
"So it was some sort of burglar…" Hikari whispered, going to sit back down at her bed. "…what's going on?! What's happened to our peaceful little country…?"
