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: Someone's folded all of the notes into little origami! Look, here's one that's in the shape of a poo emoji. How did they manage that. Look, it even has a little sticker on it. Says 'your story'. Huh. Wow.

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-eight

Kain opened his eyes, the memory of his dreams still fresh in his mind. He didn't try to move immediately, as the thoughts of the adventures of the future… or the events of some distant past… still had a hold on him. Canti used to be a lot louder, a lot more rambunctious. Or, she was going to grow into someone like that. He really couldn't tell, and these visions, if he could call them that, were nothing short of confusing. He knew that she and Minwu had some sort of bond, but watching them have cute little moments while he himself kept his distance and refused to speak up only made him sad. He loved her in that dream, and he loved her now.

The room around him was frightfully dark. He couldn't see anything above him, though he could tell he was lying down on some mattress. There were sheets between him and the cotton top, at the very least. He was cold… Kain felt his scalp itch, so he reached with his left hand to try to scratch it, but his left hand wouldn't reach all the way to his head. As he moved his hand, trying to pull it closer to him, he heard metallic clinking.

"...wha?" he gasped. The more he moved his arm, he realized it was tied down. Or, more accurately, chained down. "What?!"

"I'm dreadfully sorry," a voice that came from a source he couldn't see said. "I'm keeping the lights off, as your dear cousin is still asleep. Please remain quiet so she can keep sleeping."

Kain tried to ascertain where that voice was coming from. It didn't sound like someone actually talking to him, but like the voice had been speaking to him through a tunnel or something. "I don't know who you are," he said, "But you'll pay for what you've done. The entire Highwind family will come after you." His scalp still itched, so he used the free hand he had. What an idiot captor, he thought, giving him one free hand like that. Sure, Kain was left-handed, and all of his combat techniques were primarily done with his left hand, but he still had strength in his right arm. He'd trained both sides of his body equally, and if anyone came over this way to gloat, he had a way to defend himself.

"Yes… they will. I'm quite well aware of that. Which is why I have brought you here."

Kain figured out at that point that the voice was coming from something similar to the intercom system used at Garden upon hearing it the second time. "What do you want? Money? My father isn't the type to pay ransom fees. He's much more likely to come shove a spear right up your ass." Normally, he didn't like speaking that way, but to someone who'd gone out of their way to capture both him and his cousin, he wasn't going to hold back. There was no reason to. "If this is some Bunansa scheme, you aren't going to get the Wind Crystal this way."

"Only those whose minds are trapped within this tiny little world could ever seek that tiny amount of power."

Kain stopped to think about what the voice said. Trapped within this tiny little world? In his dreams, Kain had seen worlds far beyond this one. He had accompanied Canti far and wide through all sorts of environs, defending her and fighting at her side against any and all sorts of threats. Did this criminal know about the outside world somehow? "…you want outside the barrier," he said. He wondered how much the culprit actually knew about the outside? Considering they were taken from the Senate Building, it had to have been someone in the Senate itself that had been using that Borghen character. "But why?"

"There is untold power outside the barrier. And according to the secret documents from Leviathan's personal sphere terminal, your cousin is the key to unlocking it all."

"...that explains a lot," Kain muttered. "The constant protection, going overboard because of the possibility of her disappearing…"

"You must have noticed it. How different she is. She's not from here. She's actually from out there. That's why she's adopted. That's why she's Leviathan's personal little favorite. The barrier she manifested during her initiation ceremony at Garden was just a little taste of the power within her tiny little frame." There was a creepy calm chuckle that followed.

Kain's eyes widened. "MATEUS!" He hadn't been this angry in quite some time. Even though he didn't like Mateus and couldn't stand him, he didn't hate his classmate outright. And he did his best to tolerate the Senator's son for Canti's sake, as the two shared a class. But this? He would stoop to kidnapping to achieve his goals?!

"Took you this long to figure me out? You never were that smart, were you? Oh, Kain. I'm so hurt."

"What use does the Palamecian family have in taking me and my cousin hostage?!" Kain yelled, hoping that it would cause Canti to awake, so she could also start making as much noise as possible. That would be a great way to have them found and rescued from this situation.

"This isn't for my family, Kain Highwind. This is for me."

Kain could feel the bed he was on moving around him to his left. Even though he was chained to the bed, he shared it with someone else. He heard sharp breathing, like whoever it was next to him was starting to breath for the first time after being underwater for far too long. It came with a little whimpering. "Canti? Is that you?"

"Kain?" that voice was unmistakable.

"I'm right here…" he started to reach for her, but something that he couldn't see was preventing him from touching her. "…what? Where are you?" It was so dark that he couldn't see where she was, and he didn't understand why he could feel her so close to him even though they were on the same bed.

"I don't know… I can hear your voice, and I know you're here because I can feel you right there next to me…" she answered softly. "What is going on?"

"Ah, now that the two of you are both awake, I can turn on the lights."

There were sparce lights, more closer to Canti than to Kain. But there was enough light to explain their situation. Kain turned to his left, seeing the chain that held him in place, and also the clear wall that separated him from his cousin. The bed went underneath the wall, as did the sheets, but there was no way he could reach through that barrier to touch her. There wasn't much on Kain's side of the room, but there was at least a table that he could make out on her opposite side. When he put his hands up against the barrier, she put hers up against it right on top of his, revealing that her hands were not chained in place. Thank Cosmos for that, he thought, that gives her a chance to break out and get help. The expression on her face, contorted with all sort of emotion that she wasn't able to properly voice, just devastated him completely. The fact that there was literally nothing he could do for her at this point made him ache so much he thought his heart was going to shatter.

"There we are."

"What is this?!" Canti asked, panicked. She stared back at Kain, trying to use all her weight to push against the barrier.

"Calm down," Kain said. "I know this is bad, but we'll get out of it one way or another." He didn't know how, at the moment, but he'd figure it out. Or she would. That was also possible.

She banged her fists on the barrier, trying to break it. Kain didn't know she was that strong, but she kept trying to slam against it. The wall rumbled as she kept trying. There were no signs of breaking under the pressure. "Kain!" she cried out, tears falling from her eyes. "I… I can't… I can't break it!"

"It's all right," Kain said, trying his best to get her to calm down. Who knew that their captor would do to her if she tried to resist too much.

The door to the room opened with a very loud metallic creak. In walked Mateus Palamecia, holding a stack of books between his hands. He stood there where both of them could see him, and when Canti was going to charge at him in all her anger, she slammed against a clear barrier that she didn't see. The door slowly closed, as it was extremely heavy, with a sound that reminded Kain of a gong that had lost its ability to crash.

"Quick to temper," Mateus said, shaking his head. "We'll have to remedy that." He kneeled down and shoved the books, one at a time, underneath the barrier. "Now to explain why you're both here."

"I don't care why I'm here," Canti said, picking herself up from where she had fallen after slamming so hard against that barrier. "I'm going to get out of here and I'm taking Kain with me!"

"You can try that all day, little songbird, but you aren't going to break this barrier," Mateus replied. "I brought you some textbooks. I need you to study them and memorize them, so you might be able to help me."

"Why would I help you?" Canti growled.

Mateus sighed. There was no way she was going to cooperate if all he did was stand around talking. He walked over to in front of Kain's bed and pressed a button. Suddenly something above Kain sent a bolt of lightning straight through the young man and caused him to flop over in pain. "Is this clear enough for you?" he asked.

"Kain?!" Canti turned back to look at him, and he had been zapped with at least a third level thunder spell out of nowhere. She pounded on the barrier between them. "Talk to me! Let me know you're all right!"

"He will be, once that static feeling passes and he's able to speak again," Mateus said, going back to look directly at her. "Now, dear little outsider, it's your destiny to cross the barrier. To go back the way you came. You will take me to the place that belongs to me."

"Place that belongs to you?" Canti shook her head, bewildered.

"I have seen it in my dreams! You are always there with me when I see it, so you will take me there! You know where it is!" Mateus commanded.

Kain blinked a few times as he overheard that. Mateus had seen something involving the outside in his dreams, the same way he did. He tried to remember what he had seen in his dreams. Were there any related to Mateus? He looked at the chain on his wrist again, wondering how he would break free. And then it hit him. He'd seen something like this, too. He'd been chained in the service of… he gasped. "…Mateus."

"Yes?"

"If you've seen of the worlds outside in your dreams, then… did you ever… see yourself chaining me to a throne?"

There was no reply, but Mateus started to think about it. Ever since he had that dream the first time, he was convinced that he loved Kain in some deep, dark way. He wanted to experience that rush for real. That's why he cornered him in summer camp, trying to fasten the dragoon-in-training to the table in their camp cabin when no one was around. He was driven to see it through to fruition. But then again, the night after seeing Canti able to use that barrier with no training during the initiation, he dreamt of her belonging to him and using her powers to fight in his war to take over the entire world they lived in. Wherever it was. A lot of the memories were completely missing, and some things were just flashes of events, but Mateus was more than convinced that this was all real. It was a vision of the future. He believed, no, he knew it was so.

"So. Canti. Come and pick up these books. I had them lifted right from the Wu household, so I know they're authentic," Mateus said as nicely as he could. "If I don't see you studying, then I'll have to take it out on the one you love the most."

Canti stared at Mateus. "Y-you know?"

"Everyone that looks at you can tell. You aren't just family. One day you'll be lovers. I won't allow you to marry…"

"Who says you have a say?!" both Canti and Kain demanded at the same time. Then they looked at each other and blushed.

"You'll be coming back with me to that place," Mateus said sternly. "You will be mine. Lending your powers to me. As my Empress."

"I wouldn't dare marry you…" Canti grunted.

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't let you keep him. You'll need a personal guard to look after you, and doesn't he just do a stellar job at it?"

As Canti's anger boiled, Kain couldn't retort to that. He all ready felt terrible about the situation, but Mateus wasn't wrong. He watched her flip him off with both hands and heard her say some pretty obscene things at him. He didn't realize Canti had a foul part in her body until hearing some of the things she'd rattled off. It reminded him of how Canti was in his dreams when someone set her off. She didn't hold back a single thing. It seemed like she was growing into that person he saw in his dreams.

"Canti," Kain said, interrupting her rant at Mateus.

"What?!"

"...do as he tells you," he continued, closing his eyes. "If he's willing to hurt me, then he could hurt you, too."

She growled at him. "He can't do this to me! He can't do this to you!"

"At the moment, he can," he said again. "Besides. You are going to have to learn Mysidian anyway, aren't you? The tests… or, rather, Leviathan had it ordered, didn't he? You might as well study and save yourself some grief. I'm… I'm here with you."

Canti gasped upon hearing that.

Mateus smiled. "He does love you. Listen to him." He turned to leave, blowing a kiss to both of them. "I'll be back in a few hours to bring you something to eat. Hit the books." He walked out of the room and the door closed just as slowly.

"I might study this material, but NOT because I was kidnapped and commanded to do it," Canti said, picking up the books from the floor and taking them to the table. "But because I know I have to."

Kain sighed, shaking his head. "I wish there was more I could do."