7)---------- Masters' Poison: Early Stages.


)---------- Cid ----------(
(Airships)

KluYa was a genius.
Cid had to admit it. His father, the Head Engineer, thought he was insane, but Cid knew he was a genius.
He'd taken the ancient plans they'd found for the "Airship" and managed to decipher them. To some extent, in any case. There was the question of materials, the process of building, and of course, the funds, but other than that, the plans were complete. After only two years since KluYa's arrival, the Airship was ready for construction.
With them, Baron would be able to get the drop on Eblan, maybe even attack the Kingdom itself without putting the soldiers in danger. That would be nice . . . to stop losing people in this war . . .
Sitting back away from his meal, Cid sighed, remembering all his school friends who were now dead. Too many. Too many people, just kids, really, like him, were being killed on the battlefield. It was one thing to be loyal to the Kingdom. It was another to watch all your friends' bodies being carted back.
The Airship. Hello, step right up, we've the answer to all your problems. It would end the war quickly - stop all this madness. Who knew? Maybe, by the time he had his own family, he wouldn't have to fear for their safety the way parents did now. That would be nice . . .
His thoughts were disrupted by the entrance of his father into the house.
"Hey, Cid!" he greeted, shutting the door behind him and seating himself at the table.
"Hey, Dad!" he greeted back. "How's everything going?"
For what seemed like an eternity, his father remained silent. Then he broke out into a bubbly grin and jumped up and down overcome with mirth. (At least, Cid thought it was mirth. It might have been indigestion.)
"The King's given us the word! Construction on the Airship begins tomorrow!"
"YES!!" Cid exclaimed, jumping up into the air. (He himself had mirth, he knew.)
"You've been a big help, you know," his father continued. "The way you pored over those diagrams . . . the only person who could make sense out of KluYa's ravings . . . "
"He doesn't rave, Dad," Cid admonished. "He makes perfect sense! When he bothers to speak our language . . . And he's so calm about it, it almost freaks me out. But he's perfectly normal! Except for when he's not."
"Maybe to you." He shook his head. "Let's just say, kid, that KluYa's made more enemies than friends this past year."
"But why?!" Cid exclaimed. "He hasn't done anything wrong!"
"No, and it's bothering people," his father remarked, grimly. "He's strange . . . kinda spooky, really."
"But - "
"Stop butting, Cid! You've no need to defend him to me, I've seen how his mind works . . . and I have to say he is a genius. (Either that, or he's so dumb that he looks like a genius.) But he's still spooky. Maybe it's just the hair . . . "
"He's my friend," Cid stated.
"That he is, kid."

The next day, as construction began on the Airship, Cid sought out the man in question. He was nowhere to be found at the construction site, and after a frantic search of the town, he finally found KluYa in a far corner of the City, talking with a tall woman with light hair.
Alexandria, his mind told him. He'd seen her around, never given her any thought.
"KluYa!" he called.
Looking up, startled, KluYa saw Cid rushing to them and smiled.
"Quite a day?" he greeted. "I thought you'd be there when they started on the Airship."
"I thought you would be!" Cid snapped back with a grin.
KluYa shrugged, his thick, purple hair falling back around his shoulders.
"Had something more important to deal with," he told Cid.
Alexandria smiled softly.
Cid looked back and forth between them.
"Oh no. Are you two getting married?"
They both burst into laughter. It was just a mirth-filled day.
"I didn't realize it was that obvious . . . " KluYa seemed at a loss for words in this language or any other.
Cid just laughed at them both.
"You're right," he said to KluYa. "This is quite a day."

)---------- Cecil ----------(
(School)

"Where're ya goin'?"
"School, Dad."
"Since when you goin' to school?"
"Today's my first day!" Cecil brightly replied, tossing a comb through his violet lockes and tying his shoes. He was very proud - he could tie his own shoes. "I'm five years old! Momma says even though I'm a year early, I should be able to go."
Dad waggled a finger at him from the chair where he was sitting.
Where he was always sitting. Ever since . . .
"Don't you go doin' everything that woman says . . . she's Raider spawn, y'know . . . "
"Why shouldn't I go?!" Cecil demanded. Ever since Dad's accident, (the whole flinging himself off a tree in a drunken rage, landing on a rabid goat who promptly jumped off a cliff thing) he'd found it easier to speak up for himself . . . maybe it was just because he knew Dad wouldn't be able to react to whatever he said.
Dad shook his head.
"I dunno where you get off . . . thinkin' you're so great . . . "
Cecil looked at him uncertainly.
"Well . . . I'm going now."

He hurried along the road into the Kingdom with a light heart - going to school everyday meant less time he'd have to spend around at home, with his lame and irritable father. True, he wouldn't have as much time to play, but Momma had told him he'd like school . . .
Kain was waiting for him at the City Gate.
"Hey, Cecil!" he called as his friend came into view. "Ready?"
"I'm nervous!" Cecil admitted.
Kain shrugged.
"Sure . . . so am I. But no one can do anything to us! Right?"
"Yeah! We're good enough for them!"

Class was meaningless to him. He didn't see any point to it at all . . .
Until at lunch break, when he was wandering around and bumped smack into a . . . a girl!
"Watch where you're going!" she snapped, light curls bouncing.
"Excuse me," he replied.
"That's okay!" she brightly exclaimed. "My name's Rosa!"
"I'm Cecil!" He looked around. "My best friend's around here somewhere . . . "
"You have a best friend?"
"Yep!"
And, while Cecil continued looking, Kain came running up to them both.
"Hey!" he instantly suggested, "Wanna go pick on my half-sister?"
"All right!" Cecil exclaimed.
"Fat chance!!" came a voice from behind them.
Even as Cecil and Kain turned, Veronica grabbed a bucket of water and dumped it over Kain's head.
"HEY!" he squealed.
"Kain - " Cecil began, astonished, but was cut off as Rosa grabbed another small bucket of water and tossed it over him. "HEY!!"
The two girls laughed and ran off.
"Cecil," Kain said after they'd dripped there for a few minutes, "I don't think I like school much."
"Me neither."

)---------- Kain ----------(
(Monsters)

Kain crossed his arms defiantly.
"I don't have to listen to you! You're just a girl!"
Veronica crossed her arms back.
"One thing you'll never be able to change, Kain, and that's the fact that I'm older than you! So you have to do what I say!"
Infuriated, Kain stalked off away and sat on his bed, sulking.
Momma came into the room.
"What happened now, Kain?" she asked in a tired voice.
"I didn't do anything!" he insisted. "I didn't!"
She shook her head and leaned against the wall.
"Did you get in another fight?"
He snapped to his feet.
"I didn't get into it! It got into me!"
Momma pounded her fists into the wall behind her.
"Kain, you can't keep doing this!!"
"I can't help it! And Veronica shouldn't keep telling me what to do!"
"She's trying to talk some sense into you!" Momma snapped. "Like everyone is!"
Kain dropped back on his bed, sulking some more.
"What happened this time?" she sighed.
For a long moment, he didn't reply.
"It was Rosa."
"Rosa?" Momma frowned. "You fought with Rosa?"
"No!" he objected. "No, Baigan knocked her down, so I beat him up. Again. But I didn't use a stick this time!!!!!"
"Baigan?" She frowned deeper. "I told you to stop pounding your elders. He's twice your size!"
In spite of himself, Kain couldn't help but feel proud.
"Yep. He's a sissy."
She knelt in front of him on the floor.
"Kain, listen to me. You're ten years old. You shouldn't be out beating up other kids!"
Kain sighed and looked away, around the room, all over the place. He'd heard this speech so many times . . .
"You're making yourself a reputation! When you're an adult, no one will want anything to do with you, because everyone will remember that you pounded their faces in when you were in school!"
"I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them, either," he sulked.
Momma looked almost as if she were going to cry, and left the room without another word.
For a long time, Kain sat there, thinking. Well, what was he supposed to do? Just sit around while other people kept pushing smaller people around? Especially when he knew he could take them down?
After considering things for a while, he got up and, without saying anything to Veronica, who was glaring at him from the kitchen table as he left the house, began searching for Cecil. He had a good idea of where to find him -

He knocked on the front door, realizing as an afterthought that in the seven years since they'd been friends, he'd never once been inside of Cecil's house.
Almost immediately, the door flew open.
"Kain!" Cecil exclaimed, looking startled. "W-what are you doing here?"
"You busy?" Kain inquired. "I need to talk."
Cecil threw a hesitant look over his shoulder, then nodded.
"I'll be right out . . . "
The door closed quickly, and he heard a shout from inside, followed by a series of low hisses and a few spits he couldn't make out. Then the door opened again, and Cecil strode out.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Momma's all upset with me because I keep fighting."
Cecil nodded.
"It is kinda freaky, I guess. But cool. You really kick butt, man!"
Kain shrugged self-consciously as they walked along.
"But I don't mean to!"
"Well," Cecil told him, "maybe you should make like your Dad."
"What, and join the King's Guard?"
"Heck, then you could beat people up, and get paid for it!"
Kain found the concept intriguing.
They walked on in silence, neither realizing how far from the Kingdom they were going, until Cecil's sharp intake of breath ended his contemplations.
"What - " he began to ask, but then he saw - ITI!!
"That's a - " Cecil stuttered, pointing ahead.
A small figure stood in the path in front of them. Short, stocky, horns growing out of its head -
"A m . . . . " Kain felt the breath stolen from him.
"A - "
"A - "
And the word came to both of the young boys at the same moment.
"It's a monster!!!!!"
Reacting of one mind, they turned tail to bolt back to the City, back to the safety of the City Walls, but the road was instantly blocked by three more of the hideous creatures.
Monsters - there weren't supposed to be any monsters! Not anywhere near the City! Not even this far out -
Turning back the way they'd been heading, they saw that the first had been joined by two more.
They were surrounded.
"Cecil - "
"Kain - "
Frantic, they looked at each other, then back at the monsters.
The six of them closed in, muttering something to one another in monster language.
Scared out of their ten-year-old minds, the two boys stood still and shook, frozen.
"Mrrrghghgh - uhhh - mrghhhh," one of them snapped, coming up close to Cecil and grabbing his arm, trying to tug him off somewhere.
"Yeach!!" Cecil exclaimed, disgusted by the touch, reacting instantly and kicking the monster in the shin. "Run!" he yelled, bolting off the road and into the woods.
Kain moved to follow, but instantly, five of the six jumped on him, pinning him down to the ground.
"Argh!" he mumbled, hitting the ground with an oomph. "Cecil!"
Cecil arrived back on the scene with a very large stick and whacked one of the monsters upside the head. Snarling, two of them jumped off Kain and charged after Cecil, who whooped loudly and took off running, them in hot pursuit.
Relieved of some of the weight, Kain shoved off the others enough so that he could get to his feet. Quickly grabbing the stick Cecil had abandoned, he let his instincts take over and jabbed forward, pulled back, and realized with a sickening horror that he had just ran through the monster's head.
"Woah," he murmured, feeling a little queasy.
Another of the monsters jumped on him from behind, and he spun quickly, throwing it to the ground, and kicked it sharply in the head, rendering it senseless.
Cecil arrived back at his side, the two monsters who'd been chasing him gone. Kain didn't ask what had happened to them - he didn't want to know at that moment.
Two of them were still coming.
"I don't like this!" Kain heard himself screaming.
"Shut up! Just hit 'em!" Cecil snapped as one monster attacked each of them.
Kain, still armed with his now quite bloody stick, closed his eyes as the monster ran at him and held it out in front of him. He heard and felt the impact as the monster impaled itself, and without opening his eyes, he turned and ran.

When he was almost back to Baron, he stopped running and sat at the side of the road, trembling.
Those were monsters! Everyone said that monsters were now so rare, and so few, that it was likely they might never come near civilization again! What could have made them so bold as to come so near the city and attack two people in the middle of broad daylight -
Unless they were multiplying. Unless suddenly there were more and more of them, and everywhere you turned, there'd be a monster jumping up and out of the bushes to strangle you in your sleep -
He shook himself out of his reverie. There had to be an explanation. At least neither of them had been hurt -
A pang ran through him.
Where was Cecil?
He'd just left him back there -
As if on cue, Cecil arrived on the scene, running up the road so silently Kain hadn't heard him coming. He slid to a halt and dropped down to sit beside him.
"Those were monsters!" he exclaimed, unknowingly echoing Kain's earlier thoughts.
"I know!" Kain agreed, nodding nervously. "What do we do now?"
Cecil blinked at him like it should be obvious.
"We go tell everyone!"
"But - what if they don't believe us?"
Wincing subtly, Cecil gestured to his hands, in which Kain saw he still clutched to that stick - that stupid stick, now covered in deep green blood.
He looked at it, and felt like he was going to be sick.
Cecil grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.
"C'mon," he urged. "It was them or us . . . "
But Kain could tell that Cecil was just as disturbed by the encounter as he was.

)---------- Cid ----------(
(Sabotage?)

The frame was nearly completed.
Cid looked up at the structure with delight. It looked almost like a normal boat . . . but he knew there was so much more to it than that . . . this Airship was the machine that would end the wars and save the Kingdom. Over the past year, he'd grown certain of it.
KluYa came up beside him, and Cid could instantly tell something was wrong.
"What is it?" he demanded without a greeting.
KluYa shrugged with a worried expression.
"The King is growing concerned. He says construction is going too slow."
Cid snorted.
"That's just his wallet talking . . . he knows what the Airship'll mean when it's completed."
"If it gets completed." That said, the tall, purple-haired man turned to leave.
Cid felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Woah, hold it, KluYa!" he stuttered, startled. "What do you mean?"
Shaking his head, KluYa replied, "Many rumors of sabotage are circulating. I get the feeling that even if it reached completion . . . our Airship's never going to reach the sky."
There was something in his voice, a dead certainty, which struck a deep note of fear within Cid.
"Well . . . we'll just have to make sure nothing's tampered with . . . " he heard himself saying, although even to him, the words sounded weak and not very reassuring. "Look," he then said in a frustrated voice, "what can we do, then? Who's going to do it? I mean, where did you hear it? Who do they think is going to destroy it?"
KluYa turned a probing gaze on his young friend.
"Me."
Cid felt jolted. He stared at him, openmouthed.
"Goodnight, Cid."
And he walked away.
Cid somehow got the impression that KluYa found the whole thing extremely amusing.

)---------- Cecil ----------(
(Another Lunar Encounter)

Okay, Cecil thought to himself, staring out his window into the midnight sky. How many times have I been through this?
The full moons shone brightly in eclipse of one another, as if inviting him out into the openness of the forest at night.
He closed his eyes and considered going to bed. After all, he had classes the next day . . .
But even through his closed eyes, he could feel the strange sensation gripping at him, and knew that it wasn't worth the effort to try and resist it.
Opening his eyes and pushing himself to his feet, he silently strode to the door and, after taking only a quick glance behind him, opened it and stepped out.
He looked up into the sky at the eclipsed moons.
"Why do you keep doing this to me?!" he yelled up at the sky.
A tingle ran up his spine, and his senses left him, letting him fall unconscious to the ground.
The door opened again, and Dad hobbled out, supporting himself on the cane he'd recently begun to use to get around.
He looked at the sky, and he looked at the limp form on the ground.
"Happy birthday, Cecil," he murmured.

)---------- Kain ----------(
(Fever)

What he'd been dreaming about, he'd never remember. What he would always remember was Veronica grabbing him by the hair and dragging him out of bed.
"Get up," she hissed in a low voice.
Startled, groggy, and cranky, he naturally began to protest, but she firmly clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Get up," she hissed again. "Go get the Healer. Go get Marion."
"What?!" he hissed back, catching the urgency in her voice.
"Hurry!" she snapped. "Get her, and bring her back here! Now!"
Kain, much as he hated listening to his older half-sibling, knew when to follow orders. Quickly tossing on some clothes and shoes, he ran out into the deserted streets, still not yet awake with people although dawn would soon approach.
Marion would be in the Castle. That's where she worked - that's where she held her classes for the new White Mages.
A burst of adrenaline filled him, and he almost flew to the Castle Gates.
The Guard, apparently quite astonished by his arrival, grabbed him up as he tried to charge right through the door.
"Easy, there," he admonished, recognizing him. "Kain. What's your rush?"
"Veronica," he rasped, out of breath, "Veronica told me to get Marion. Quick."
The Guard threw a look to his partner and nodded.
"I'll get her. You," and he turned back to Kain, "go home, tell them we're on our way." Then, as an afterthought, "I'll get your father, too."
Kain nodded and ran as fast as he could back to his house, still in the dark about the problem.
"What are you doing here?!" Veronica snapped as he barged in the door. "Where's Marion?!"
"She's coming," he gasped between ragged breaths. "The Guard's bringing her. What's the matter? What's going on?"
Veronica grabbed him by the shoulders and jammed him down in a chair.
"You don't need to see," she warned him in a low voice that sent chills through him. But as he opened his mouth to inquire further, an almost inhuman shriek filled the air, and Veronica flew from his presence to Momma's room.
"Stay there!!" she yelled at him.
He didn't listen, naturally, and followed on her heels.
The sight that greeted him would remain etched in his memory forever
"I DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS FOR A LIVING YOU KNOW!!!!!!" his mother bellowed, deliriously threatening him with a hairbrush. She then forgot him and ran in circles around the room, yelling insanity. Kain could sense the feverish crazy disease reeking from the room.
"Kain, get out of here!!" Veronica shouted, her face scared but her voice stern.
Kain couldn't move.
And Momma shouted again.
"KluYa!!!!!!! You dirty nut, get out of my head!!!!! No one invited you, darn it!!!!!!"
He took a step back.
"Me?"
"No, not you!! CeCil!!!"
He heard the door open and close, and then Daddy rushed past him, not acknowledging his presence as he remained there, frozen.
"Julia - "
Momma made no sign of recognition, but continued on raving, thrashing, screaming (something involving lunar can openers).
Someone pushed him out the door. He looked up. It was Marion, he recognized her by the white tunic and silver belt she always wore.
"You too, Veronica," she ordered in a calm, cool voice. "Out."
Veronica, shaking, joined Kain outside the room, and the door closed on them.

)---------- Cid ----------(
(Twilight)

"Today's the day."
Cid glanced at his father, trying to chew his breakfast, but unable to swallow. His mouth was too dry with anticipation. Gulping down whatever the stuff in the pitcher was - he never noticed what it happened to be - he managed to get down his mouthful.
"Brilliant," he acknowledged his father, grinning.
In a matter of hours, the engine would be installed in the Airship. Then, for the first time in thousands of years, mankind would again soar through the skies, higher, even, than the birds and flying monsters . . .
Or course, monsters were rare now. No one in his lifetime had ever set eyes on an aerial monster, much less charted how high one could fly. But for the sake of dramatization . . .
"You talked to KluYa lately?" his father inquired of him.
He shook his head.
"Not lately, no."
"Nor I. But I thought he would've kept you informed . . . he thinks a lot of you, Cid."
Cid raised his eyebrows.
"Why, I'm the teenage engineering prodigy of legend!" he proclaimed, raising his juice glass. "Or so I've been told."
His father snorted.
"Yeah, I can see you doing great things, Cid. Just don't let it go to your head."
Cid grinned and finished his muffin.

"Is everything all right?" KluYa inquired upon his arrival that morning at the construction site for the Airship. "Nothing out of place?"
"Relax, KluYa!" one of the engineers assured him. "Nothing's deteriorated overnight while you weren't watching . . . "
KluYa didn't grace him with a reply. Instead, he turned to Cid.
"Well?"
Cid shrugged, unsure what he was being asked.
"Everything seems okay."
Looking over at the structure with a worried frown, KluYa murmured something to himself.
Remembering his concern from a year ago, Cid looked over at him questioningly.
"Listen, KluYa, if you've heard anything about a sabotage or the like - "
He shook his head.
"No. I just have a . . . a very bad feeling." He slammed his fists into his sides. "I'm worried for my children, Cid. If anything goes wrong here today . . . I can't say what will happen. None of you realize quite how important any of this is . . . "
Confused, Cid was silent, waiting for him to continue. KluYa didn't have any children.
KluYa closed his eyes.
"I may as well say it, Cid . . . everyone else already thinks I'm crazy, you may as well, too."
"You're not crazy," Cid vehemently assured him. "People are just - "
"They have good reason to think that. No, I'm not crazy. I am, however, on a very important mission, which I feel I will not be able to complete."
Now Cid was really confused. Not that this was an unusual thing.
"There is an evil in this world - it arrived shortly before I did, it was my mission to stop it. But I fear . . . and if this is the case, then my children must complete this task. They're the only ones of the correct blood . . . and it will be hard enough . . . "
"It arrived . . . in this world?" Cid repeated, held by that statement. "And you . . . KluYa, what are you saying, exactly? Don't talk to me in riddles. And in English would be nice."
"It must be stopped," KluYa told him in a somber manner. "No matter the cost. Or it will destroy humanity."
Cid frowned and was about to question him further, but was cut off by his father's voice.
Turning, he saw the engine raised and ready to be installed in the Airship. All feeling of frustration and confusion left him as he watched, eagerly, for the moment to proceed. Beside him, he could feel KluYa tense up.
Slowly, the engine was lowered into the Airship, Twilight. Everyone was silent as connections were made, and finally, the propellers were started.
It worked . . .
All the anxiety he'd felt melted away with the realization.
It worked.
"It works!!" he yelled, and was instantly echoed by the shouts of the people of Baron as it slowly lifted from the ground -
A strange light flashed through the air, and he heard a short cry of alarm beside him.
"KluYa - "
"GET DOWN!!!"
And the world exploded along with the Twilight.

)---------- Cecil ----------(
(Purple Hair)

Cecil stared into his mirror, suddenly transfixed. In all of his twelve years . . . it had never struck him as odd before. Now, though, he stared rapt at his reflection, frozen with shock.
Dad hobbled into the room.
"What's the matter?" he asked in his gritty voice.
Blinking and tearing himself away from his reflection, he turned to regard his father. Over the past years, their relationship had changed so much . . . ever since he'd begun to walk again, he'd been so much more . . . agreeable . . . than he'd ever been. Cecil still felt almost uncomfortable in the knowledge that he no longer had to be afraid in his own home . . . it was strange, and scary in its own way.
"Dad," he began in a mystified voice, "why is my hair purple?"
Dad squinted at it.
"Hm. Well, so it is." He shrugged. "Really, I'm not the one to be telling you."
"Mother didn't have purple hair. You don't have purple hair. Why do I? No one else I know has purple hair! Why is it that I'm so different?"
"Cecil," he said in a firm voice, "you'd have to ask your mother. And she's not here."
Blinking, Cecil tried to make sense of that. Of course his mother wasn't here! She'd died when he was three . . . he remembered her face clearly, but she'd been dead for nine years!
"Why?" he asked. "Why would she know when you don't? You're my father, after all."
"You'd have to ask your mother," he repeated, and hobbled out of the room."

)---------- Kain ----------(
(Vengeance is Sworn)

"Kain, go get me my pencils."
Kain remained sitting at the table, his eyes locked firmly on his textbook.
Veronica looked up from her own studies.
"Kain, go and get me my pencils."
He looked up and glared at her from across the table.
"You have two feet," he reminded her in a low tone.
He could see the anger jump into her eyes, but he cut her off before she could retort.
"Everyday, Veronica, everyday it's been the same thing - anytime you need or want something, you always make me do it. Why? Why aren't you willing to get up off your butt and for once in your life do something for yourself!" His voice rose and he'd gotten to his feet without realizing it. "You used to rely on Momma to do everything for you - now that she can't you rely on me to do everything! I can't, Veronica! I don't care if it's just getting your pencils for you - you have to get your nose out of your books and live your own life!"
She jumped to her feet, towering over him by four inches, her long, black, almost blue hair flying out behind her, as she glared at him, two pairs of matching, deep red eyes.
"I am living my own life, Kain," she hissed in a low tone, in that admonishing him for speaking up so loudly. "You don't realize all that I do - you don't know what it's like to stay here all day while you can still go on to class out with other people - "
"No one's making you stay here!" he objected. "No one told you to drop out of school - "
"Don't you get it you stupid little moron?! I have to! Someone has to, and you couldn't!"
"Who says I couldn't?! I could handle - "
"You wouldn't know where to start! It's all a matter of place, Kain, don't you see that?! The girl stays at home and keeps things together, while the guy gets to go learn a trade - and whether you like it or not, I am the woman of this house, and as long as you live here, you will listen and do what I tell you to do!!"
"No," he snapped in a low tone. "I'm gonna get away from you - and go where I won't have to listen to anyone anymore!"
"What, you still want to join the King's Guard? You still take orders, Kain, you take them from the King! You just don't know when to listen! You don't know how to follow orders, Brother, and that's why you'll never make it!"
"No, I'm not joining the King's Guard!" he snapped in a fiery retort, although up until that moment, it had been his plan. But he had to beat her - he couldn't let her win the argument - "I'm gonna be a Dragoon! Then I won't have to listen to anything except my own heart, and if it tells me not to get your pencils, then I won't!"
"You?!" Veronica burst into laughter. "You'd never make it! It takes more than the ability to pound people to be a Dragoon, Kain!"
"And girls can't be Engineers, Veronica!"
She recoiled from that statement, and Kain knew he had her. Before he could move in for the kill, though, a low, smooth voice cut him off.
"Goodness, are you two fighting again . . . "
Veronica panicked, Kain could tell by her expression.
"No, we're fine, Momma," she quickly reassured the woman who slowly entered the room.
Kain instantly jumped to his feet and took her arm, guiding her to a chair to sit in.
She sat, squeezing his arm in thanks, blinking her faded red eyes.
"I wish you two wouldn't . . . " she continued. "You know things are hard enough as it is . . . "
Veronica glared at him, pinning him with the blame, and although rage boiled up in him, he held it back, returning the glare, but saying nothing.
"And I also wish you would stop glaring at each other like that."
They both turned to her in surprise.
"Momma . . . how can you - "
"You don't have to be able to see to feel the heat of it," she told him, reaching over and patting his hand. "I may be blind, but I'm not stupid."
Kain ducked his head.
"No, of course not."
"Tell me, Kain, how's Cecil? He hasn't been around in quite some time . . . "
"Oh, he's fine," Kain absently replied. "Just has a lot to do at home . . . getting ready for Winter and all. He'll be around when he gets bored."
Veronica snorted.
"He always does."
"Now, Veronica, be kind," her mother admonished. "Cecil has quite a fate in store, I feel, and we'd best help him as we can."
Kain frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I - "
The door swung open, as it always seemed to do whenever someone was about to explain something important.
Jordan, the Captain of the Guard, entered the house, looking distraught.
"Captain - " Veronica began, rising.
"Stay seated, m'lady," he sternly told her. "It's best that way."
"How fared the battle, Captain?" Momma inquired in a solemn voice. In retrospect, Kain would feel that it almost seemed that she was expecting the news -
"A terrible defeat, Ma'am," he replied, bowing his head. "I'm afraid Abraham . . . "
Veronica squeaked something as realization hit her and gawked at the Captain, wide-eyed.
Momma nodded slowly, again and again, and was silent, still nodding.
Jordan looked helpless, standing there, not sure what to say -
Kain just frowned. No way. Daddy? There had to be some mistake . . .
"There's no mistake, Kain," Momma whispered to him.
He looked at her, looked at Veronica, looked at Jordan . . .
And bolted.
Right out the door, right smack into Cecil.
"Ow!" he yelled, reeling back, startled by the impact.
Cecil reached forward and steadied him.
"I just heard, Kain. Oh my gosh, are you - "
"You just heard? Cecil, I just heard! You must've heard before I did . . . everyone else knows about this before I even do . . . it's not fair! It's just not fair!!!"
Emotions churned through him like a typhoon, and he was overwhelmed.
"This isn't right, Cecil! It just isn't right!!!"
And he collapsed right there, right in the middle of the street, weeping.
Jordan and Veronica came to the door and watched, conflicting emotions crossing both of their faces. Pedestrians silently left the scene, realizing that they were, as always, in the way.
Cecil grabbed his arms.
"Kain!" he called frantically. "Snap out of it - "
"I will not snap out of it, you idiot!! I hate you! I hate you!!!!!!"
Startled, unsure of what to say or do, Cecil stayed right where he was, gripping his arms, looking around for help.
Kain didn't care. He'd barely known his father. Barely known his own father. He was always on duty for the King - never home, never around to help when Momma needed him, never there when Veronica needed him -
But he himself had never felt that he'd needed him. He'd never felt that he'd needed anybody. He realized that now - he'd never let himself need anybody -
And now it was too late.
Too late.
His father was dead.
When his tears and energy were finally spent, he looked up, trembling with exhaustion, and found Cecil still there, watching him with frantic concern.
"Sorry . . . " he stammered in the manner that people stammer after crying. "You're not an idiot, and I don't hate you, Cecil." He pushed himself to his feet, shrugging off his friend's assistance. "I'm okay."
Cecil socked him in the forehead and knocked him right back down on the ground.
Winded, Kain looked up in astonishment.
Cecil knelt down beside him, livid.
"Don't you go telling me you're okay!" he snapped. "You're not, and I know it, and if you go telling yourself that you are, you're gonna end up just like my Dad!" The fury in his voice almost drove Kain back to tears. "You won't care! You won't! You'll come home drunk every night, and not care! You'll hurt yourself bad, over something stupid, and you won't care! You'll sit around everyday, just not caring, until you wake up one day and realize that you've got nothing left to care about anymore, and you'll try to straighten up, but you won't have anyone left to straighten up to, because no one knows you, and know one really cares! No one'll care because of all the terrible things you'll have done to everyone, to your family, to your friends, and then you just sit around all day and regret everything, for the rest of your life!!" He stopped and took a deep breath. "Don't go telling me you're okay, Kain," he ordered. "Don't lie to me!!"
Kain stared at him, his grief almost forgotten in a sudden fear of his friend.
"Cecil . . . " he whispered, "you're freakin' me out, man."
Cecil let his head drop in his lap for a moment and sighed. Then he looked back up and, standing, extended his hand to Kain.
After staring at him for a moment longer, Kain accepted his aid and let Cecil pull him to his feet.
"Sorry," Cecil murmured to him. "I'm really sorry, Kain, sorry that any of this happened . . . "
"You have no reason to be sorry," Kain replied softly. "You didn't cause this. None of us did." He looked over the City Wall. "Eblan . . . "
Cecil followed his gaze.
"Eblan will have its day," he said quietly.

)---------- Cid ----------(
(Evil Is Among Us)

When he came to his senses, he didn't know where he was.
Above him was the sky, but it wasn't blue, it was . . . tainted. Gray. Filled with smoke and debris particles . . .
A face appeared above him.
Golden hair. Deep red eyes.
"Julia - ?" he sputtered, recognizing a childhood friend.
"Easy, Cid," she consoled in a soothing voice. "Lie still . . . "
He heard the sound of a Potion being cracked above him.
"What - "
"Just lie still."
The memory hit him as the Potion took effect.
"The Airship - " he began, sitting up.
She pressed him back against the ground.
"I told you to stay still!" she repeated in an almost crying voice.
Noting her distress, he stayed still, but continued to question her.
"What happened to the Airship?" he asked weakly.
She sighed, her dark eyes sad.
"A bolt of green lightning shot through the air; sure sign of magic, - and it exploded. Completely."
Something nagged at the back of his mind, and he tried to catch the elusive thought.
"Your father . . . " she began in a timid voice.
SNAP! That was it! That's what had been lurking at the corner of his mind.
"Where is he?" he asked her. "Was he hurt badly?"
She closed her eyes.
"He's dead, Cid. He was blown to pieces, along with forty-seven other people who were killed . . . "
He felt nothing. He just lay there, feeling nothing.
This isn't right. I should be grief-stricken - but I don't feel anything . . .
"Is he all right?" he heard someone ask.
Julia looked at someone he couldn't see.
"I - I think so," she replied, looking down at him uncertainly.
"I'm okay . . . I think . . . " Cid mumbled.
KluYa knelt beside him, looking bruised and burned and not quite so amused any more.
"Cid," he whispered, "evil is among us."
Cid felt his eyes close. He felt KluYa's hand on his forehead -
And suddenly, he was able to feel again. The numbness wore off.
The Airship was destroyed. His father was dead. Forty-seven other people were also dead. And now -
Now KluYa tells him evil is among us.
"I could've told you that," he murmured, as grief and fatigue overtook him.

)---------- Kain ----------(
(Dragoons?)

"Cecil, I've got a problem," Kain informed his friend one day, as they left their classes.
"I could've told you that," Cecil quickly replied with a grin, then sobered up. "What's up?"
Kain squirmed.
"Well . . . I kinda worked myself into a hole. See, I sorta worked myself into a hole saying that I was going to be . . . a Dragoon."
Cecil stopped in his tracks and stared at him like he was a maniac.
"You're kidding me, right?"
Kain shrugged his helplessness.
"No, I'm not! And to make matters worse, the more I think about it, the more I actually want to do it!"
"But Dragoon's are - " Cecil quickly lowered his voice and looked around to make sure no one was listening, " - they're different! Strange!"
"Yeah . . . I know . . . but . . . they're cool!"
Cecil rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment, thinking. Then he brightened up.
"So, do it! Be a Dragoon!"
Kain felt abashed.
"But . . . but I wouldn't know where to start!"
Cecil grinned and opened his hands.
"That's why I'll go with you!"
Kain felt even more abashed.
"Cecil . . . you can't be serious."
"Why not? To be perfectly honest, Kain, I've not once given any thought to my future. I'd do just as well as a Dragoon, if I make it, than as an Accountant, or whatever."
"An Accountant?" Kain laughed. "Now that, that is funny, Cecil."
"Funnier than the both of us going out for Dragoon Training next fall?"
Kain considered.
"Yeah," he finally had to admit. "Even funnier than that." He grinned. "Okay, Dragoons it is!"
"Woo-hoo!" Cecil exclaimed with an uncharacteristic burst of enthusiasm. "We're gonna kick butt, Kain!"
Kain laughed.
"That's not all we're kickin'! Baigan tried, and didn't make it!"
"Yeah, isn't that why he's on the Royal Guard?"
"Yep! I heard that he had the ability to be a Dragoon, but Sir Rorunar couldn't stand him, so he kicked him out!"
"Woah! Cool!"
And they laughed some more. Kain felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, now that he had some idea where he was going, but still couldn't help but wonder if it could ever be as simple as that.

)---------- Cid ----------(
(The Dragon)

"And so," Cid sighed, dropping the folded paper on the table in front of KluYa, "they now want me to take my father's place as Head Engineer for the Kingdom."
KluYa nodded.
"Congratulations."
Cid shook his head.
"But I don't want it," he admitted. "I did before . . . but now . . . just now . . . "
KluYa nodded again, understanding. He rose and lightly placed a hand on the young Engineer's shoulder.
"This is perhaps a bad time . . . but it is still an honor. Don't let it pass - you'll not likely be offered again."
Cid swallowed.
"Everytime is a bad time."
"No." KluYa shook his head, eyes closed. "The time - the time will come when you're very, very glad of this. I'm almost certain."
Being familiar with the reliability of KluYa's predictions, Cid had to sigh once more and pick up the paper again.
"All right . . . I guess." He almost crumpled it up. "But . . . the King doesn't want any more mention of the Airship. No chance of rebuilding, or, or anything!"
"Something will happen. You're young, Cid. A lot can happen in a lifetime."
"That's sure!!" Cid's mother exclaimed, barging into the room. "Kinda like that dragon outside?"
"What?" Cid exclaimed, frowning with astonishment.
KluYa didn't ask. Rather, he took one quick look out the window, and swiftly exited the house without a word, only a brief roll of the eyes and a quick gnashing of the teeth.
Cid took a look out the window, and almost choked.
"That's a dragon!"
"Didn't I say so? He's probably come to eat us all . . . "
"Dang it, Ma, you just had to mention that!"
He threw a quick look around the house and grabbed the first weapon he saw - his father's axe. Then he followed KluYa's lead.

The streets had filled with men, armed with the intent to fight off this strange attack, but most now stood gaping at it in shock. Cid joined them.
It was HUGE . . .
The dragon looked over its shoulder and saw them, flexing its great silvery blue wings. Without a sound, it turned and faced them all.
Then, quick as lighting, it darted forth and ate someone!!
"YAAAAAH!!" Cid heard himself scream amidst similar shouts from the others.
KluYa remained silent, as if he knew exactly what he was doing. As the dragon retracted, he jumped forward, crawling on top of the creature's head.
The dragon didn't like that. But as it tried to remove him, he took a wild swing with a sword he seemed to produce from nowhere and sliced off the dragon's hand.
It landed a few feet away from Cid.
He thought he was going to be sick.
Someone else (he recognized Michael, Julia's spouse) grabbed a hold of the dragon's tail as it floundered about in shock and pain, scrambling up to the monster's back. KluYa slid down its neck, and the two of them seemed to be trying to decide what to do about it now.
The dragon, noticing that there were now two little people on top of it, angrily lashed out with its tail, swiping away a good portion of the would-be fighters.
As Cid saw the tail coming towards him, he figured that he may as well do something rather than just stand there. So, in the instant he had, he hurled his axe at the dragon, and was promptly slammed into a wall, or something to that effect.
He heard a scream. Forcing his eyes open through the shock of the impact, he saw, much to his own surprise, that his aim had taken the axe directly through one of the dragon's hearts - it was already beginning to stumble around with weakness.
But dragons have two hearts. (Everyone knows that, duh . . . ) It wasn't a fatal wound.
Michael drove his blade through the dragon's left back shoulder, forcing the creature to fall onto its side. KluYa dashed down to stab the dragon's other heart as he fended off its gnashing teeth. The poor dragon, one hand gone, one leg useless, one heart destroyed, was still fighting for its life.
Leaving no time for dramatic effect, KluYa delivered the deciding blow quickly, and the dragon died almost instantly.
Almost.
Before it did, it managed to gobble down Michael, who was just a little too close to the dragon's mouth, and a little too confident.
Cid pulled himself back to his feet, along with the others who had gotten caught in that tail swipe, and hurried to the side of the carcass to congratulate KluYa, but when they reached it, everyone froze.
The dragon's mouth fell open.
A woman stood inside.
Holding two babies.
Alexandria?
KluYa stared at the image impassively as it vanished, leaving only a view of the Dragon's teeth and uvula.
Cid heard him mumble something under his breath about a prophecy, and chose not to ask. He felt he wasn't ready to know what was running through KluYa's mind at that moment.

)---------- Cecil ----------(
(Blood)

"Dragoon, huh."
Cecil sat at the table, finishing his final lesson for the year.
Forever, he realized. He wasn't coming back to school. He was going to go to training . . .
"Yep," he replied absently to his father.
Dad hummed a bit to himself.
"How old are you now, boy?"
"Fourteen, Dad."
"Fourteen. You look a lot like your mother, Cecil . . . " and his voice trailed off to a faint whisper, "but you've got your father's eyes."
Cecil dropped his pencil.
"What?" The question was quick and formidable. "What did you say?"
"Oh . . . it's a song."
"Dad!"
Dad bowed his head.
"And hair. He's so visible in you . . . "
Cecil jumped to his feet.
"I - I don't get this, Dad. What're you saying?"
He shook his head.
"Didn't you ever wonder, Cecil?" he asked in a dazed voice. "Didn't you ever wonder? You asked about the hair once . . . I thought you were catching on . . . now I realize that you never would, and I don't feel right about it."
Cecil felt cold inside.
"I still don't get this, Dad."
"Cecil, I'm not your Dad. I married your mother after he died. There's no blood between us."
Shocked, Cecil fell back into his chair.
"Euh . . . how?"
It was the only question that could come to his mind.
Dad leaned back in his rocking chair.
"Your mother . . . she was so young. Didn't deserve to be widowed. But told me right up that she'd known it was going to happen. Your father was a strange man, but somehow, she understood him. Believed in what he said." He shook his head. "They were really in love. When he died, and we got married, she told me that there was a special fate in store for her children, and that it now fell entirely to you. But she couldn't tell me what it was." He shook his head again and was silent.
Cecil felt weak.
"This fate . . . was it good? Or . . . "
Dad just shook his head again.
"I can't tell you, Cecil, but I can tell you this." And he looked up to lock eyes with the boy he had raised. "You bore all the Hell I put you through, and despite all of it, you turned out to be a good kid. I admire you for that, I know I wouldn't have done as well. And I believe that you can take whatever fate lies in store for you and turn it good, somehow. Just do what you know is right, like you always do."
Cecil didn't reply. He stared at the page in front of him, seeing the words, but not reading them. It seemed like there should be so much to think about . . . but it somehow struck him that he didn't really care.
Not about this fate which had been prophesied, nor about the man who was really his father.
He had his Dad, who was his Dad. Even if no blood passed between them, he was still his Dad. And he was right, he'd put him through Hell, but he had the guts to admit it. Cecil forgave him for everything.
"That's why I'm so strange, then?" he heard himself asking.
"Who says you're strange, boy?"
He shrugged.
"Lots of people. They think I'm weird . . . I always thought it was just the purple hair . . . "
Dad chortled.
"Well, it does set you off a bit, boy. What about your pal in the City? He think you're strange?"
"Kain? He shouldn't talk - he's pretty strange himself. We're just a couple of weirdoes."
Cecil noted, but tactfully refrained from ever mentioning, that his father no longer referred to Kain and his family as "Raider Spawn". He was glad. Whatever questionable traits their bloodline may have had, it now seemed that his own was perhaps not much better.
"That's good. Keep being weird. 'Cause you've got something that they don't, that they never know they missed."
Cecil frowned.
"What?"
And Dad chortled again.
"A sense of humor."

"And then he went to sleep," Cecil finished, describing the tale to Kain and Momma.
"So we're a couple of weirdoes, are we?" Kain grinned. "That's okay - I guess we are. You all right about all this, Cecil? It's a lot to absorb . . . "
Cecil shrugged.
"Actually, I am. It's weird, but I am."
"I'm not going to have to, you know, sock you in the head and freak you out, or anything?"
Remembering, it was all Cecil could do not to shiver.
"Sure," he confirmed. "It's okay. Blood doesn't mean anything - it's what's in the heart that counts."
Momma laughed softly.
"Oh, Cecil, I doubt you remember some things . . . times when I don't think you felt you could ever forgive him."
"I do," Cecil told her solemnly. "He's different now. Very different from the guy who used to hit me in the head."
"Lucky for you, eh, Cecil?" Kain inquired lightly. "If you took too many more blows, we were worried you'd get brain damage!"
"Cecil," Momma interjected in her quiet voice, "what was your mother's name?"
He blinked.
"Um . . . Mother?"
She sighed.
"Yes, of course."
Cecil searched his memory.
"I can't remember, honestly. I never knew her as anything else."
"Think back, Cecil," Momma instructed. "Think back to before you met us, before your mother died, back when you lived with your mother and the man you then believed to be your father."
Kain looked on, suddenly feeling nervous at her interrogation of his friend.
"I can't remember," Cecil said again.
"Does anything react when I say the name Alexandria?"
He jumped to his feet.
"That's it! That's her name! That's it!!!"
And he sat back down.
"Yeah, something reacted."
"I thought as much . . . "
Suddenly confused, Cecil turned his full attention to her.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Hm? Oh . . . I knew your mother, Cecil. Never well, but I knew who she was . . . excuse me, boys, I think I'm going to go lie down."
She got up and, moving from memory through the house she knew without seeing, went to her room.
Cecil turned his attention to Kain, who shrugged.
"Don't ask me, man."

)---------- Kain ----------(
(More Blood)

Veronica gawked at Kain oddly when he absently filled her in later on what Cecil had said.
"Don't look at me like that," he then snapped.
She shook her head.
"MOMMA!!!!" she yelled. "TELL MY BROTHER WHY I'M LOOKING AT HIM FUNNY!!!" she bellowed, pivoting and rushing from the room.
Momma scurried in as she left and hissed something too quietly for Kain to hear to his demi-sibling and then, shaking her head, sat across the table from him.
"I don't get it," Kain told her. "Um . . . what's this all about?"
"I wish," Momma sighed, "that she would have kept her mouth shut. But maybe she's right. You're older now, anyway . . . "
"Let me guess," Kain wryly suggested. "You're going to tell me that my father wasn't really my father."
"How did you know?"
Kain gawked.
"I was kidding."
"I wasn't. No, Kain, I'm afraid you never quite knew your father. He was killed before you were born."
"Killed?"
"Yes. In battle. He was a Dragoon."
For a moment, Kain wasn't sure what to think of all this. Then he shook his head.
"I don't believe this. It sounds like something out of a cheesy story written by a high-school student. What was his name?"
"Phil."
"Phil? You're telling me that on the same day Cecil finds out that his real father was really a purple-haired man on a mission, I find out that my real father was Philly the Dragon Knight? Are you sure you're not making this up?"
Momma shook her head.
And, not knowing what else to do, Kain burst out laughing.
He figured also that he'd better not mention this to Cecil. It was just too coincidental. And too silly.

)---------- Cid ----------(
(Good-Byes)

"Eat!!" Cid's mother snapped, noting that he was ignoring his meal. "You don't eat enough, boy!"
Cid frowned at her. During the past few years, since the Twilight's explosion, she'd begun working at the Castle as a Maid. He wasn't sure how they could handle her. He could barely handle her himself anymore.
"I'm not hungry," he told her.
"That's because you don't eat enough! You've gotta eat first! Then, over time, your appetite grows!"
"Ma - "
"Don't MA me, Cid! Eat up! We've got homemade jelly!"
He sighed and gave in.
"What flavor of jelly?"
She grinned.
"It's jelly flavored."
He looked up at her and frowned again.
"Ma, you're weird."
"Must run in the family, m'boy."
He snorted and got up to leave.
"Where are you going?! You're not finished!!" she objected.
"I need to talk to KluYa. He told me to come see him this morning - said it was important."
"He doesn't eat enough either. Here, take him some rolls. Make sure those kids of his aren't malnourished."
And so, piled high with breakfast pastries, Cid left to call on his friend one last time. (bum bum BAAAAAAM!)

"I don't see why you have to leave," he finally objected in a weak voice after KluYa had informed him of his plans.
KluYa sat across the table from him and grinned.
"It was never my plan to stay in Baron indefinitely," he reminded him. "Matters call me elsewhere."
"What matters?"
"Oh . . . personal things."
"Personal? I thought it was a great evil that threatened humanity."
KluYa tensed.
"I didn't think you'd have remembered that."
"Never forgot." Cid absently chewed on a breakfast pastry. "So what is this great evil?"
"I'm afraid I . . . really couldn't tell you," he sighed, a sorrowful expression. "It would bring more evil down on you than you can imagine. The less you know, the safer you'll be."
"I'm not afraid of some stupid evil!"
"You should be." A shiver ran through his body. "Cid, I've already involved one person more than I ever wanted to. And now our children may be left to carry on what I may not accomplish. I only hope that they can survive - that they can grow safely, and not be consumed. He knows about them . . . he knows about me . . . he's just waiting, I'm certain, to bend them to his will . . . "
"Who?" Cid persisted.
KluYa shook himself as if out of a daze.
"I will not say the name in your presence," he firmly stated. "But, Cid, could I ask one favor of you before I leave?"
"Anything," Cid replied sincerely.
"If, by chance . . . something does happen to me before my mission is complete," and he paused, planning his words, "and you make contact with my children, could you somehow look out for them? Try and keep them on the correct path?"
Cid nodded.
"But don't tell them of what I have said. They may be able to complete our task with as little knowledge as possible - and the less knowledge, the less painful it will be for them."
"You never told me their names," Cid pointed out. "If you go away, and I meet them sometime far in the future, how will I know them?"
One of the toddlers toddled up to them then, cooing something.
KluYa picked him up, an expression of amazing affection crossing his face.
"Look at his face."
Cid did so, and as the baby turned to face him, he saw his eyes, blazing a neon green fire, just like his father's.
"You'll need no names to identify my kind," KluYa informed him. He set the child down on the ground. "Go on, CeCil, go back to Mother," he murmured. Then he turned his focus back to Cid.
"We must leave soon."
"Where are you going?"
"I don't yet know. But I'll find out. Eventually." He stood and offered his hand. "Thank you, Cid. You've grown up before my very eyes . . . I'm sorry for any trouble I may have caused."
And Cid could see that he had accepted the blame for the Airship accident, the explosion that had claimed his father's life. He'd been the one to interpret the charts, to actually allow them to build . . . a dream . . . that had backfired. Terribly.
"You haven't caused any trouble," Cid gravely denied, taking his hand and giving it one last shake. "This evil of yours, though, has. If you must go . . . take care."
KluYa nodded.
"You too, Cid."
And somehow, as Cid left after a tearful embrace, he knew that KluYa would never come back.