Project:RE
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. And chances are, neither do you.
Notes: I see that no one here gives a shit about this. Your not caring about this is exactly why I keep writing it. The moment fans like a story of mine, I absolutely can't work on it anymore. If you want me to stop, you should tell me how much you love it. 3
Warnings: ROFLMAO. All the usual warnings apply.
FIC START!
Cid stopped typing on the Sphere terminal's keyboard when he realized exactly how quiet it was through the house. He put down his files onto the nearby desk and stood up, looking through the gigantic halls of the Highwind Manor. The entire place felt empty. Now there weren't staff keeping things in order, or training services being held with the Warriors of the Water. There wasn't his straight-laced, stalwart, half-the-time heartless big brother giving orders and his dainty little wife to simply let him leading the place. Was that really supposed to fall to him now? Cid never particularly enjoyed living here when he was younger, when their father was in charge, and now all he could do was listen for the long forgotten echoes of those no longer alive. Suddenly he felt a tinge of fear that something had happened to the kids, so he began to race through all the rooms to look for them. Then he remembered that they had gone upstairs. So he headed up there, and he couldn't help but remember one time when he slid down the large banister as a child. He had a fantastic sense of balance and he made it all the way down without falling, which was impressive, but that didn't matter. He was grounded. And, he thought, it made sense that he'd be grounded for that, regardless of how graceful he was. How he proved that he was built for being a dragoon later in life. Cid went from the stairs through the hall, cracking each door just a little. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare them the way his father had gone out of his way to scare both of his sons. He hated that so much as a kid that it still bothered him even now. As he came closer to a door, he heard what sounded like crying. He put his hand on the knob and turned it just a tiny bit, enough to open the door enough to hear what was going on inside.
"You're safe," Kain's voice came through the door.
Cid listened a bit more, realizing that Canti was crying. He immediately wanted to rush in there to comfort her, but it seemed that Kain was all ready doing so. He pulled the door open further to see the scene clearly. Kain was holding her in a way that she was cradled against his side, his arm wrapped around her. Cid started to walk in, and Kain turned his head just a bit. They locked eyes for a moment, sharing an expression of understanding. It didn't surprise him that she went to Kain. Leviathan did mention those two would grow closer and probably wish for a relationship that Richard highly disapproved of. He only nodded before stepping away. The experience they shared only brought them closer. He couldn't help but wonder if that was preordained. Seemed off that Leviathan would hint at it, and then circumstances brought it forth. He headed back downstairs slowly, taking his time with every step. That's when he heard the sound from the Sphere go off - someone was calling.
He pressed the key to accept the call. "Highwind Manor," Cid said clearly, waiting for the screen to catch up.
"How is everything?"
"Sir, things are going along well, considering," Cid answered. Finally the screen revealed Leviathan there. He knew the Headmaster's voice well.
"I'm assuming that those two are further inseperable than they were before," Leviathan said.
"You'd be assuming right."
"Good. Don't get between them. They both need it."
"I can see that, sir."
"Fantastic! Now, on to what I need you to do, now that things are heading back to normal," Leviathan cleared his throat. "In the files I gave you the last time we spoke, there's a few things I need you to look into. Once that's taken care of, the Warriors of the Water can rebuild."
"Er. With all due respect, Leviathan, may I speak freely?"
"Of course you can."
"Sir, I- I don't mean to be rude, but..."
"Speak up. I would hear of your concerns."
Cid sighed. He hestitated, rubbing his fingers against his temples, trying to gather his willpower. "I don't want to hold my brother's position," he stated honestly. His heart started to race, and suddenly he was craving his cigarettes. He hadn't had one in what felt like far too long. "I'm not prepared to be the Grand Dragoon. I don't have the same way of thinking that he does. Richard was a rigid man, sticking constantly to routine, and he knew no other way. If you want another Grand Dragoon, sir, I wouldn't take offense at all. Just... don't come looking for it here."
Leviathan's face begin to twitch. Cid couldn't tell if he was angry or surprised by his confession. A few moments later, the eidolon nodded and bit his lip. "Okay," he said. "I understand. You'll be getting your discharge papers by the end of the day. Stay home so you can accept them."
"Are you sure about this?" Cid asked curiously.
"You don't have to worry about anything, Cid. Concentrate on what's important to you," Leviathan said. "We'll be in touch. You are, after all, raising my pet project."
Cid felt sweat drip down the side of his neck. The rage built within him as he thought of that. But the last thing he needed to do was piss off the man in charge of running the entire country. Never once had he ever considered thinking about beating any government official until they were near death - not until Senator Palamecia decided to publicly execute his older brother recently anyhow - but just hearing that his daughter was some 'pet project' like that disgusted him to his very core. How could he say that about a person, especially his only daughter?
"I'll leave you be, then," Leviathan snapped, ending the call promptly.
"Fuck you," Cid grunted, wishing he could say it to him to his face. He turned away from the Sphere and headed towards the kitchen. When was the last time he bothered cooking anything?
Leviathan crossed his arms. How dare he say that? This was his pocket dimension! He had complete control over how everything worked here - and it was all a finely functioning machine. He had built it all carefully, piece by piece. Each turning gear linked to some other turning gear, keeping the whole place alive. This would not do. He needed the Warriors of the Water. He needed to keep feeding the people the news that the world outside the barrier was a dangerous, darkness ridden place. Keep them all training, keep them all prepared for the eventual attack, all while allowing Canti to grow up knowing love well enough so that she could command the powers of light and be of stable mind when she awoke... He turned away from his Sphere and pressed a button on his desk. A silent siren began to flash before three figures cloaked in nothing but ninja gear appeared before him.
"I need you to be delicate on this one," Leviathan barked. The graceful features of his face began to gave way to a frustrated, tense demeanor. The fact that the senators in here were even rebelling against him was enough, but to have someone so close to the project's core speaking against him like this was not going to fly. "If you kill this man, you may cause this entire world to end."
"How does that make any sense?" a ninja asked, rolling his eyes.
"You will not backtalk, Edge!" Leviathan yelled, slamming his hands against his desk. "I will see your wife drawn and quartered to set an example if you continue this attitude!"
This caused the ninja to step back. He had never seen the Headmaster so angry before.
"You wish the target delivered alive," another ninja answered, much more seriously in a hushed tone. "This can be done."
"Thank you, Shadow," the eidolon said. "Bring to me Cid Highwind. Unharmed."
"What of his daughter?" the third asked.
"If one hair on her head comes to harm, all three of you will be relocated to Fisherman's Horizon." All three of them flinched. They understood exactly what this implied.
"But won't she get upset if her father goes missing? There was all that going on regarding her uncle and-"
"Amarant, rest assured. She will be fine," Leviathan insisted. "Just bring him to me."
"Yes, sir!" the three ninjas gave a salute, and they all vanished with a sudden breeze that knocked papers all over Leviathan's office.
"I will not tolerate insubordination when I am banking on a certain mission," Leviathan said as he turned back to his Sphere. He keyed in a few numbers to bring up a few files digitally and compared them with the ones he had on his desk.
Mateus walked through his family's grand mansion, staring at all the frivolous things his mother had spent money on when he was a child. Decorations and extremely odd things, things that no other person would ever take interest in. He remembered his mother, a short figure with sun-kissed skin and get black hair named Airu, being a strange woman that not even his father completely understood. Not that his father was the type to try to understand anyone - the man had no heart to attempt at doing so. Now that both of his parents were presumably dead, the responsibility of maintaining the Palamecian Monster Farm fell onto his shoulders. The task of ascending to the rank of senator did not interest him, either. He stopped in his father's study, looking around at the shelves full of books that the man would stop to read any time he was free. These texts mattered more to him than any member of the family staff or the family for that matter. He noticed the book that lay on his desk - the last book that Matteo had looked through before he executed that horrid plan.
He picked it up and opened it. It was a text on magical symbols and diagrams, written in a language Mateus could not read. As he turned the pages, he found a slip of paper.
Achieve your dreams, my son, Mateus read it. May this forbidden book assist you in this endeavor.
He flicked the paper away and turned further into the pages of the book. "...oh... this book belongs to the Wu family, now, doesn't it? This was one of the confiscated texts that was taken when they raided the house. Now, exactly what would my father have this for?"
He carried the book over to the crushed velvet chair large enough to be a throne to rule an entire empire from. He propped his feet up the way he remembered seeing his father do several times in the past and began to study it curiously. Even though he could not read it, the diagrams and symbols were absolutely fascinating. Whatever it was that those outcasts were up to must have been similar to what his father was doing.
And then, another piece of paper slipped out, in someone else's handwriting.
Why have you done this to me? It's like you've become a completely different person. When I first met you, I liked you a lot. I kept a friendship with you despite my father's concerns about it. Now you're convinced I'm going to be your bride and take you to a land beyond the barrier where you will rule? What does that even mean? Mateus, I pray you snap out of it before something bad happens. You've damn near killed Kain, you've beat me mercilessly because you believe it will train me to be obedient to you. You may never find this note I write as I pretend to be translating this book you've stolen from my classmate Minwu, and that's fine. I don't hate the Mateus that sang in chorus with me and shared an assignment with me. I don't hate the Mateus that secretly sent me a purple rose when I was sick. I don't hate the Mateus that came to my blessing ceremony, and brought with him the biggest, most delicious cake I've ever had in my life. I loved him. I could have easily been his girlfriend, even in secret from my family. I could have grown to be his bride. But the way you are now, how could I ever consider that? How could I
He blinked as he read it multiple times. He flipped it over to see if it continued on the other side, and he went through the pages quickly to see if there was more to that letter. He recognized the handwriting with no problem, as he had shared Chorus with Canti a few years in a row. He had seen her write original lyrics for presentations. This didn't match the events that he remembered or the ones that were discussed by the country at large. She had been hurt extremely, enough to sustain a nasty head injury, by his father. Mateus was tending to the Monster Farm the day this was all happening. He had been visited by that suspicious classmate of his, Ffamran Bunansa, coming to look for a Queen Malboro. He remembered thinking of Canti and wondering how she was doing as he told truck drivers to deliver the gyshal greens to the chocobo stables, and the scholars came to check on the Schizo creature that the Highwind Brothers captured and brought to the farm a while back. Mateus was far away from the Sphere and had no idea about the assult on the government, the murder of the Grand Dragoon, the battle that took place in Fisherman's Horizon until far after it all happened.
He went back to his own personal room to pull out a Moogle Flute from his nightstand and began to pen a letter.
