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: *has a maniacal cackling sort laugh that goes on for way longer than it should*

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-five

When Canti opened her eyes again, she had no idea what the hell was going on. That dream was so vivid, it felt like she'd actually lived it. What was that school? She called it the academy? Those uniforms were strange, but she remembered exactly how it felt to wear it. And Kain wasn't her cousin, but a hero from another world inside a painting? She shook her head, totally confused as to what was going on. She noticed that Kain was curled up on the cot next to her, his hand placed over hers. Protective as always. Then she remembered seeing both Hikari and Crystal there, too. They were both older than her for some reason. What the hell was going on? Her head buzzed so loudly inside her mind that she couldn't hear herself think, and that was annoying!

The door to the room opened and Cid came in, worried. "Baby girl, are you all right?" he asked.

She just nodded.

"Everyone in the facility just passed out at the same time…" Cid said. "…like some magic had gotten into the whole system." He stared at her for a moment. The things he had seen in his dream had clearly left an impact on him. "After what I dreamt about, I had to come and make sure you were all right."

"What… did you dream about, Papa?"

"I was the mayor of some town built around a rocket? All I wanted was to go into space, but my dreams were crushed and I'd become a bitter old man… until I found you, took you in," Cid said, scratching the back of his head. "I decided I was going to adopt ya as my own, but people came for you. Took you away from me. There was nothing I could do. I'd never felt so… devoured by my own sadness like that, the idea of losing you."

She got up from where she had fallen over and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Oh, Papa, I'm not going anywhere!"

"I know. It was just a dream. Felt real as hell, though," Cid said, returning the hug. "Woke up with tears in my eyes. I thought they had come for you."

"If they do, you can just run them through with your spear!"

"Damn straight, pumpkin!" he picked her up the way he always had picked her up, spinning her around the way she used to love it right after he first adopted her.

They shared their bonding until Richard came in suddenly. "Good news," he nearly shouted at them. "They got him! Finally!"

Kain immediately sat up. "Then put him on trial this instant!"

Richard shook his head. "I'm afraid those things take time. But he has been transferred to the maximum security facility. Kain!"

"Sir?"

"Time to clean up in here."

"...yes, sir."

Canti watched as Kain begun to pick things up, as she knew would happen, but Cid was carrying her away from the room she'd been in all that time. She hugged around his neck, laying on his chest and resting on the strength of his shoulders as he carried her around. Cid and Richard were discussing how things would proceed. The tiny house Cid built for the two of them was in shambles and there may not be much to recover now, and the security of the Highwind Manor was going to have to completely be reconfigured. They didn't know where any of the Highwind family was going to live now after all of this. She didn't really follow a lot of it, as there was a lot of interruptions based on all the other officers within the Warriors of the Water. It seemed every other sentence between her father and her uncle were being interrupted by something else entirely.

"How'd they catch 'im?" Cid asked one of the men.

"Turns out, he was hiding out on the Monster Farm in one of the nests of a Behemoth King!" he answered.

"So, he wasn't the one who killed the staff at the Highwind Manor?" Richard asked. "That was someone else?"

"Had to have been," another random warrior replied.

"Well that just means we have another enemy to take down."

Canti pulled on Cid's jacket to get his attention. When he turned to ask her what was wrong, she said, "I think I know who was sneaking into the manor, Papa."

"You do?" he asked. "Who do you think it was?"

"Well, on the day of my ceremony, Ffamran Bunansa broke into the manor because he wanted to steal the Wind Crystal," she suggested quietly. "It could easily be one of them, because Ffamran told me after I caught him about the relationship between the Bunansas and the Highwinds." Canti didn't know if it was that for sure, but that was the only thing she had to go on.

"That's a very good possibility," Richard said, ruffling her hair. "We've had a team clean out all the bodies within the manor, but until we can work on improving security measures, I simply cannot allow you or Kain to be there. Especially not alone."

"What about Erina's place in Fisherman's Horizon?"

"That's a terrible idea, Cid! That place is… it's not fit for anyone to live there."

"We don't have much of a choice. School won't resume until Leviathan tells Garden to open, and there's too much going on to keep them here. My house isn't there anymore, and yours is unsafe. I say we send them to Fisherman's Horizon," Cid said sternly.

Richard had this expression on his face, revealing that he was disgusted with the idea of it, but Cid was right in the fact that there wasn't much he could do. Kain had come along from cleaning up the mess they'd made while building their fort. Cid put Canti on her feet, and the two adults went into having one of their discussions they were always known for having. Kain just took Canti's hand and the two of them went out of the room where they were being loud about their discussion. Over across the hall was a place they could just sit and wait for them to stop arguing over everything.

Crystal had been sitting there in the living room, watching the Sphere for updates as to what all was going on. She'd fallen asleep a few times, probably because all this waiting was boring and she wanted to be able to head back to her anvil and beat the fuck out of some metal with her gargantuan hammer. She flipped through channels, and nothing was coming up, until she'd gotten a call.

"Tobul residence," she said politely, answering the call with a flick of the button.

The caller was Hikari. "Oh, good, they finally let the call go through!"

"Hikari?" Crystal asked, confused. "What's up?"

"My dad just left to take care of some business with the senators, but anyway. They haven't announced it on the Sphere yet, but my dad says they caught the guy!"

"Whoa, really?!" Crystal smiled. "That's great! I'm glad to hear it!"

"Yeah, turns out that I was asleep when it all happened… all this waiting around is total BS," Hikari continued. "What a bummer. I was hoping I'd be able to at least see him get his head chopped off."

"Or smashed into pudding."

They both giggled, and Hikari added, "If Canti were here, she'd probably add 'or skewered'."

"Ha, she would, too!" Crystal nodded, wondering exactly how their mutual best friend was holding up in all of this mess.

"I am worried about her, though. Whoever it was totally destroyed her house."

"That's a bummer. But you know the Highwinds, they always think of something…"

"I can't argue with that."

"Have you been able to contact the manor?"

"No way. Turns out, the manor was sacked and all the staff were killed."

"WHAT?" Crystal gasped upon hearing that. Now she was petrified for Canti! Where was she going to go now?

"According to what Sir Jecht told my dad over the Sphere, he heard that both Canti and Kain were in the manor at the time it happened, too… turns out, the Grand Dragoon had come to check on them and got them out before the guy was able to hurt either of them. Thank Cosmos," Hikari explained. She sounded like she was scared, too. "If they weren't close before…"

"...they could be engaged by now…" Crystal couldn't help but laugh, but it was one of those nervous laughs only really let out when under a lot of stress. "If they were fighting off someone trying to kidnap Canti and make off with her, Kain's all ready her hero."

"Too bad for Mateus."

"You don't mean that. He's a creep."

"He is pretty creepy, but it's painfully obvious that Matty's got a crush. He can barely keep himself in his pants when she's around." Hikari seemed to understand way more about relationships than Crystal did.

"Is it just me, or is he also crushing on Kain, too?"

"...so you noticed that."

"Yes! It's clear as day! Why do you think Kain hates him so much?"

Hikari nodded in agreement. "I never thought I'd say this, but I miss school. I miss hanging out with you, Canti, and all our friends. Going to the town square and having fun."

"Yeah. I sure wish life would normalize all ready."

"You aren't the only one."

"I bet everyone else feels this way, too."

"I imagine no one wants it more than Canti does right now."

"Mhm."

The main administration building was in all sorts of a mess. No one could find Leviathan, and he'd never gone into hiding this long before. The eidolon in charge of running thing also kept a delicate balance between the Warriors of the Water and the Military Police, which was causing problems with the news that the criminal, confirmed to be Borghen of Fisherman's Horizon by the Palamecian Monster Farm's own owner, Senator Matteo, and his charismatic son, the young master Mateus. The duo gave their confessions in the center of the meeting hall, surrounded by all the other Senators and, for the first time in the history of the Senate, their bodyguards.

"I was on my routine check as that is my chore on the farm," Mateus said, turning to look at every part of the Senate. "And I found this stranger hiding among the eggs of a King Behemoth!" He pointed at Borghen, who was chained to a display right in front of where he and his father stood.

"You… you liar!" Borghen shouted until one of the MPs zapped him with a lightning-gun.

"Without Leviathan here, we don't know what to do with the criminal," Senator Kinoc said from the back. "What do we do with him?"

"Hang him," Senator Palamecia suggested.

"That's barbaric!" Senator Ultimecia shouted.

"Grabbing school children on their way home is barbaric," Senator Braska said, shaking his head. He looked at his two guardians that stood at both of his sides and asked, with his hand over the microphone so only those two could hear him. "What do you two think about this?"

Jecht said, "I think we don't even need Leviathan for that piece of shit. Get the family of the victim and have them decide what to do with him. I know if it happened to our kids, we'd want the choice, right?"

"Mmm," Auron's deep voice didn't respond right away. "Speaking with no political background, there is no written law that states Leviathan must be the judge over these matters. Perhaps we should propose letting the victim choose a fate for him."

Jecht rubbed the back of his neck. "Might be the only fair way."

Braska nodded, giving them a signal with his other hand to let them know he was going to take his hand off the mic so he could speak to the rest of the Senate. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, might I make a suggestion?"

"What do you have in mind?" Senator Shinra asked, stroking his mustache. "Everyone knows you for being lenient…"

Borghen looked up at Braska as if he was begging for mercy.

"This is not going to be lenient. What I am about to suggest may be the most harsh punishment one could propose," Braska continued. "I believe we should summon the victim here and ask the victim what they believe the appropriate punishment would be."

"A little girl would not wish death on anyone," Senator Shinra grunted. "How stupid."

"Are you saying that it isn't the right of her father to look into the eyes of the one who tried to kidnap his daughter?" Senator Palamecia asked. "Honestly, I believe Braska has a very good idea. Most of us are parents ourselves. If a pervert were to come after my own son, I would love to have the chance to ask the one responsible what the hell he was thinking!" He nodded and was doing everything he could to encourage this within the other senators. He was even willing to filibuster for the chance of that being the decision.

Mateus smiled at that, but he said nothing. Watching Borghen squirm for his failure was lovely enough, but knowing that the darling little Cantirena would have to come here to decide his fate? Now that was delicious. "Father," he whispered out of the range of the mic, "I'm going to take care of a few things. Would you like me to send a summons to the Highwind family?"

"No one knows where they are at the moment," his father whispered.

"I still know a way to get it to them…" he said, showing that he had a moogle flute tucked into his pocket.

"Genius, my son… Print up an official letter and send it to them that way."

"Understood, Father." Mateus bowed his head. "Do be sure to keep arguing for the sake of our lovely little songbird."

"Anything to make you happy, son."