Chapter 11
"Master!?" someone gasped.
The effect was immediate. As soon as the word had made its way through the air all of the fanatics fell to their knees again, hitting the floor with their foreheads.
The middle priest dropped the dagger, his companions let go of the shivering, stunned Gau. All three of them stumbled up in front of the altar, also falling down to praise their master on their knees.
Terra knew that her jaw was close to the ground. And she knew that her friends felt the same.
As if forced, her head turned towards the other side of the statue, at the line of prisoners that she couldn't see. She wasn't the only one staring in that direction.
If Kefka is there, and Gogo is there… then…?
The math didn't really work out, and that was not very pretty.
Kefka began moving towards the altar, and the fanatics around him fell over each other in their attempts to move away and create a path for the great one. He stopped a few feet from the kneeling high priests, his eyes running over the line of staring prisoners.
"Well here we are, all of us…" he smirked, "and isn't it a lovely occasion, my dear friends?"
He was too far away, Terra couldn't see his face properly. She hardly dared to hope.
"Master, we…" the middle priest began, without looking up.
"Ah, yes!" Kefka screeched, "I have to thank you for all that you have managed, well done! Such delight for the eyes…"
He chuckled madly.
"All my sweet little enemies, the great warriors of the world, put up against the wall. Nice and fresh. You have truly saved me a lot of time, my trustful followers. I was looking for them myself, but it seems as if I won't have to bother anymore. Well stand up, my good men!"
All the fanatics rushed to their feet.
"Now then," Kefka continued, turning around to talk to the larger crowd, "I am certain that you are just itching with wishes of me reclaiming the world. And I will, if anyone doubted even for the shortest moment. I will rule again, with your help. You who have been true to me, only you shall have the glory of this world. The others… ah, you know my sayings already, don't you?"
He chuckled again and looked around at the line of prisoners.
"And you look so very surprised, my pretties," he sneered, "did you really think that you could destroy me? Oh, you always were the foolish ones… but as you can see I still live, and of all your so called heroism only this puny scar remains. Such a pity, isn't it? Pity, pity, pity…"
His pointing finger went down his left cheek as he spoke about the old wound. Terra stared at him and almost sobbed of relief.
"Just look at that," Kefka sighed and rolled his eyes with a smirk, "they're so scared they can't even speak out their horror. Revenge and victory, you puny little warriors, can you feel the sweet, sweet taste of it?"
He went over to the altar, past the high priests who almost in trance threw themselves out of his way. As Kefka had his back at the priests and his trustful followers he dropped the hideous grimace of mad triumph for one short second, giving the still pale Gau a calming smile before turning back into the insane man.
The sound of a palm hitting stone echoed in the great cave until Kefka spoke again.
"And this! Marvelous, I love it! Ha! It's just what I had planned for this little group of heroes as soon as I'm done with them. Fascinating, isn't it?"
He turned around again and tilted his head.
"Any questions? Go on, let's hear it!"
There was a silence that lasted for a few seconds before the high priests realized that their opinions were called for.
"Had you something else in store for your enemies, master Kefka?" the middle priest asked, his voice trembling with the excitement of having the great one just a few feet away.
"Good one!" Kefka screeched.
Once more he chuckled madly before continuing to speak.
"Indeed, I have some use for them. Something even sweeter than having their blood painting my altar; I will let them work for us for a while."
He waved with his pointing finger, smirking.
"Ah, you see," he said, conspiratorial, "I'm still recovering from the assault which temporarily left me weak. Soon I will be at full strength, but in the mean time I planned to play a little game with the world before taking over it."
Without turning around he threw out both his arms, making it unnecessarily clear that he spoke about those who were standing behind him.
"Now wouldn't that be simply charming? Most of these assembled friends have important professions in the eastern lands. All of them are well known throughout the world. To put them back in place, but under my mind control, that would be funny even if I don't need them for long. In just one month I will be completely recovered, and then they and the rest of the world's untrue will face my judgment. You have done well, my followers, truly."
He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"However, I fear that you must leave this sacred ground for a while. Troops of Figaro and Doma have received orders to search out and wait by the entrances to these caves. They are on their way, and my powers are not enough to wipe them out for the time being. Therefore you must leave now, before it's too late."
There was an angered whispering going through the lines of the fanatics, considering the fools who wanted to fight the great master.
"Where should we go then, master Kefka?" the right priest meekly asked.
"The troops are coming by ships from the west, therefore you can safely go by land," Kefka informed his followers, "you should hide in the forest to the south, that will be safe until I am ready to step up again."
He nodded.
"Yes, hiding is disgraceful," he said, "but it won't be in vain, my trustful ones. In one month, when the day before full moon, you will go the edge of the Figaro desert, where I will meet you again. Then the world shall bow for me, and you will have the glory by my side. So you better not be late, understand?"
"Of course, master," the middle priest said, almost breathless, "we will come to offer you our eternal trust!"
"Splendid, splendid," Kefka smirked, "now hurry up and get out of here before the fools of Figaro and Doma have disembarked. I'll take care of our friends here and then bring them to their posts."
"Certainly, master!" a choir of breathless voices chanted.
The high priests and fanatics scrambled to their feet. Kefka didn't move as the three leaders hurried down towards the big opening leading to the labyrinth. He still imitated a statue as the fanatics began to walk in two lines after the high priests, mimicking their way into the darkness since that was required to avoid the awaiting traps. Even though it took quite a few minutes before the last robed back had gotten out of sight, Kefka kept still. But when all the fanatics were gone, he raised his right hand, not turning around yet.
"Wait," he said in a much lower voice than the one he had used in the recent moments.
Nobody said a word. The silence lasted for a minute, then one more. Then Kefka finally moved, as none of his followers had come back to check on what was happening.
He turned around, his gaze running over the line of prisoners. Then he raised his hand again and hit his own face with it.
"God, they bought it!" he groaned, "I can't believe it, they actually bought it!"
His hand massaged his cheeks before falling, to the sound of relieved gasps.
"Thank the heavens for thee, my comrade!" Cyan sighed, smiling broadly.
"I don't know if I'll applaud your theater or strangle you for waiting until the last second, when I get my hands free," Relm grinned.
"Thank you," Gau sincerely said.
Gogo took a deep breath and released it very slowly. Then he reached into his cloak and took out a small dirk.
"Now let's get you off that disgusting thing, my young friend," he said.
He carefully took Gau's hand and began working on the lock.
"You almost got me worried before making your move," the Gogo by the wall said, with a smile in his voice.
The other prisoners (apart from Umaro) blinked and turned their heads in that direction. Right. There's two of him. Almost forgot.
So, umm…?
Gogo by the altar even smiled a bit bitterly.
"I'm sorry," he said, "but there was the dramatic thing to convince them and I really needed something to force me into action. There."
He bent up the iron around Gau's left wrist and went around the rock to reach the other one properly.
"This might sound stupid," Mog said, "but have you duplicated again?"
"No, no…" Gogo absentmindedly said, concentrating on the lock, "just give me one moment."
He freed Gau's other wrist and then went to work on the two last chains.
As the wild boy finally was free he held onto Gogo's arm when he stepped down from the altar. He stood for a couple of seconds, then his knees bent and he almost fell to the floor. His face was almost as gray as ashes.
"It's just the shock," Gogo calmingly said, "sit here for a while and you'll be fine."
Gau weakly nodded.
Lying chained on a cold altar with a madman standing with a dagger above your chest leaves no one unaffected.
While Gau sat with his back heavily against the altar's side, Gogo went over the floor.
"I hope you enjoyed today's show, folks," he said with a small, ironic smile, "because personally I hated it. But since we're at it, I'd like to thank our sponsor…"
He reached forward and removed the veil from the trapped Gogo's face.
"Our very own; Cid the scientist."
"Grandpa!?" Celes choked from her place on the other side of the statue.
"The good part of being me is that almost anyone can dress up like me," Gogo said, "the bad part is that he might need to know a lot about all of us."
"Sorry to keep you uninformed," Cid grinned to the astounded people, "but we needed to have you look shocked at Kefka's appearance, right?"
A few glances were exchanged among the prisoners.
"I think that I'm speaking for all of us when I say this," Sabin slowly said, "I should really hurt both of you for the half heart-attack."
"Ah," Gogo said and walked down the line of imprisoned friends, "let's save that for later, alright?"
He passed the statue and reached up to place his dirk in Locke's hand.
"Here, you'll be better off with it than me."
"Are you alright?" Locke asked as he began to use the dirk, pretty well considering the circumstances.
Gogo sighed and shook his head.
"I really, really need to sit down…" he said.
As Locke got his right hand free, Gogo sat down by Gau's side. His face had begun to turn even paler than the young man's had been, and his hands were shaking.
Gau patted his friend's shoulder, apparently feeling much better than before.
"Just shock," the young man calmingly said, "sit here and be alright."
Gogo managed to smile a bit as his friend mimicked him.
Locke hissed triumphantly as he could remove his other hand from its bounds. He turned to Celes.
"Look, not to be rude," Edgar called, hearing the married man's movements, "but my fiancée is sitting in a cell all alone and scared half to death!"
"Yes, I understand," Locke absentmindedly said, "but even though good ol' Gogo sent the morons to the outside you better not go alone. Just give me a second."
To be honest he couldn't really care about Edgar and his lady for the moment being. It was truly egoistic, but Locke could only think about his own love. Everything else came in second place.
Celes threw her arms around his neck as soon as she was free, Locke dropped the dirk and held her tightly as they kissed each other almost feverishly, whispering promises of never getting into anything more like this again. Those who could see them watched in warm silence as the lovers kept holding on for a moment. Then Locke slowly released Celes and picked up the dirk again, hurrying over to Setzer as Celes ran towards the pile of backpacks.
"I don't want Edgar to rush off alone," the treasure hunter told the gambler, "and I guess you and Mog are the only ones who are unoccupied with other things for the moment being."
Setzer nodded with a small smile. Locke got him free quickly, and the two men went over to the anxious king together. Meanwhile, Celes hurried over the floor with a backpack in her left hand and a bottle of healing potion in the other.
"Here, Gau," she said and threw the bottle into the young man's hands, "give Gogo something to drink."
'Are you still there, father?' Terra thought, wary of his long silence.
She heard a deep breath. Then Maduin spoke to her again.
'Yes. Quite frankly, Gogo shocked me pretty badly…'
'You don't say…'
"Hey, calm down!" Setzer called as Edgar almost pushed Locke off balance after being freed.
The king didn't listen. He ran into one of the tunnels, and the gambler ran after him with a smiled sigh.
Celes put a bottle of healing potion by Cyan's lips while Locke took on Cid.
"This should help off the pain," the blond woman calmingly said, "we'll take care of your arm as soon as it has begun to work, alright?"
"I thank thee…" Cyan muttered and gratefully drank the curing drug.
The man with the dirk hesitantly watched the line of prisoners. Cid was on his way to check on Gogo's state.
"Well…" Locke said, "which one of you members of the newfound family should I free first?"
"Relm!" Shadow and Strago said simultaneously. (Hmm, that's a lot of S…)
"Well, okay."
Gau was helping Gogo to hold the bottle that Celes had given them. The mimic was swallowing small parts of the liquid, slightly convulsively.
"You really did well," Cid said, calming, "if you hadn't done it we would have been I grave danger, as you assumed."
"To be honest I was on the brink of snapping too, all the time," Gogo muttered.
He leaned back, and Gau lowered the bottle.
"I had been planning what I should say," the mimic said with a smile drained of any happiness, "but most of it just flew away. I improvised half the time."
Cid heavily sat down, chuckling and shaking his head at that bizarre fact.
He looked around as he noted that both his tired friends were looking in the same direction.
Relm stood silent before her father. Locke stood beside Shadow, not to be in the way as he worked on the unveiled assassin's irons. Shadow said nothing.
As he was released Locke had to help him sit down, otherwise the man in black would have fallen. The drug still kept his body in a weakened state. Relm sat down in front of the assassin and Locke hurried on to her grandpa.
Father and daughter silently watched each other. Mog wished that he hadn't been so close, it felt as if he was intruding. But they ignored him, anyhow.
"I'm sorry," Shadow finally said.
Relm's gaze fell to the floor. She couldn't look at him, and she couldn't even explain to herself why that was.
Gau wanted to help her, but felt that he wasn't called for. So he kept still, silently watching his "sister" and her father.
"Are you mad at me?" Shadow asked, his voice making it clear that he wouldn't blame her the slightest.
Relm didn't move at first. Then she slowly shook her head, without looking up.
"No…" she whispered, rather weakly.
Then she suddenly threw herself forward, swung her arms around his neck and pressed herself against his chest. Without saying a word, she just held onto him.
Slowly Shadow raised his weakened arms and placed them around his daughter. As Strago sat down beside him and put his aged hand on Relm's back the two men exchanged a careful glance and then nodded.
"But get a real job, for heaven's sake, Clyde!" Strago whispered from the corner of his lips as Shadow looked down at Relm's hair again.
The man in black chuckled exhaustedly with a nod, and Shadow was no more.
"How are we going to get Umaro out of here?" Celes concernedly pointed out.
"Relm's hot sauce might help him too," Sabin grinned, swallowing the potion the blond female warrior held by his lips, "it'll take him a while to recover, but it should do the trick."
"You're just plain cruel, Sabin," Terra tenderly said, "he's a yeti, you know."
"Aww, it'll only make him stronger…"
"Kanai!"
Her head snapped up as she heard the voice calling her name.
"Edgar!?" she tried to shout, but her voice was too hoarse to take it.
All that left her lips was a whisper.
She heard the sound of running feet, and then she saw his face in the small opening in the door. A few drops of sweat trailed paths in his dirty face, but it didn't matter. His eyes were glowing with relief as he saw her. He was alive.
Kanai's heart danced away, skipping a few beats of the almost shocked joy of seeing her lover again.
"I'm alright, we got help, everything will be fine," he said, all the things he wanted to tell her falling over themselves.
His eyes went aside for a moment, as he was talking with someone who was with him.
"Can you open the door?" he asked.
"Hey, stress out…" another man's voice chuckled, "and please move aside for a second so that I can see what I'm doing."
Kanai couldn't help chewing on her lower lip as the sound of something small and metallic in a lock could be heard. Then there suddenly was a thump, as if somebody had thrown himself aside, landing on the floor.
"There!" the other man said with a laugh.
The door swung open and Edgar rushed in, caught Kanai in a tight embrace and kissed her fully on the mouth. A longing kiss with the explosion of relief, and the passion he had held back until now. It was so intense that she was completely stunned at first, the heat his lips lit inside of her roaring around her very soul, paralyzing her for a moment.
And when she finally found fair control of her body again, the chains made it impossible for her to wrap her arms around him and pull him even closer than he already was. It was true torture.
"It'll be alright, we're free, my love…" Edgar whispered against her burning lips.
Kanai tried to whisper his name again, but her words just turned into an exhausted sob of relief. Edgar moved back a little and examined her face, all the whirling feelings and things he wanted to tell her twisting in a confused mess inside of his eyes.
"Are you alright, love?" he asked.
"Yes, Edgar," she whispered, tears escaping her eyes as she finally could drop all the horrible tension she had kept within for several days, "thank God you're alright…"
Edgar smiled tenderly and sat down on the cot beside her, holding her as tightly as he dared without breaking something inside of her. When he was beside Kanai instead of in front, at least she could reach up to caress his cheeks with her hands.
"I was so worried about you, love," she mumbled, kissing him back.
"Excuse me," the other man's voice said, rather embarrassed, "I hate to break the moment, but this place isn't suitable for romance. One moment, please."
A hand carefully encircled Kanai's right forearm, and a dirk was placed in the lock of the iron keeping her bound. She looked at the helper, finding an eerily pale man with a few scars on the sides of his face. He was dressed in a long, deeply brown jacket and his hair was almost shining in light gray. But he seemed far too young to have gray hair…
When he looked up with a calming smile Kanai noted that the irises of his eyes were slightly red; she realized that he was albino.
"This is Setzer Gabbiani," Edgar smiled, "Setzer, lady Kanai of Jidoor, the future queen of Figaro. I don't believe you've met."
"No, but it's an honor to finally meet the only woman in this world who can smash our great Casanova king to his knees," Setzer grinned and winked with one eye.
"You're also one of the Warriors, aren't you?" Kanai said with a smile, "I'm glad to meet you, Sir."
"My pleasure. There, one down, one to go…"
Edgar took Kanai's soar wrist between his hands and carefully massaged it to get the feeling back to her hand.
"How did you get out of there?" Kanai wondered, leaning at Edgar, "who helped you?"
"Kefka himself, who else?" Setzer chuckled.
Kanai startled and stared at him. Edgar cleared his throat.
"Ah, there's something that none of us are fond to talk about…" he said, a bit sheepishly, "you see we have this mysterious man, Gogo, in the troop… I guess you know that already."
The woman of the three nodded, frowning.
"Well," Edgar said and cleared his throat again, "this might take a while, but he's Kefka's twin brother."
Kanai blinked. Setzer stood up with a sigh and bent the last iron open.
"If you care for my opinion I think that you should tell her all that someplace more cozy, Edgar. Let's check if there's any more prisoners and then get out of here."
"Good idea," Edgar nodded and stood up, helping his love to her feet.
They went down the tunnel and looked into the few cells. No one. Every small, dirty room was empty.
"Well, I guess we were the only guests they expected," Edgar said as they went back towards the big cave.
"Ah, yes…" Setzer absentmindedly said.
He tried not to walk too close and disturb the king and his lady. The way that Kanai and Edgar resolutely held their arms around each other even as they walked was surely showing of very strong care, but for Setzer who was outside of it and therefore easily felt a bit intruding it was plain embarrassing.
As they reached the cavern where their friends dwelled, they found Cyan lying on the floor with Locke and Sabin holding on to his shoulders and left arm. Celes stood ready with bandages and a piece of Gogo's cloak to use as a sling. Strago was just sitting down on his knees by the swordsman's broken arm.
"Wait, you morons, that'll never do!" Relm exclaimed, "you need something to support his arm!"
"Yes, but we don't have anything to…" Celes began, but the young girl left her father and rushed over to the pile of backpacks.
After a few moments of searching she found her own pack, and opened it.
"I always take them with me…" she muttered as she dug around in the sack, "just in case. Ah!"
Triumphantly she brought out three of her brushes, all of them blessed with rather long, fairly thick shafts. She hurriedly gave her tools to Celes and then backed off again, returning to Clyde.
By now everyone was free, and all of the friends were grimly waiting for Strago to pull Cyan's arm into place. When such things are on the roll, it's hard to concentrate on other stuff.
"Ready?" the old man gravely asked.
Cyan nodded, clenching his teeth around another, smaller piece of Gogo's cloak. Indeed, the mimic happily sacrificed his clothing for his friends…
"One, two, three!" Strago hissed, holding Cyan's arm.
He pulled. The swordsman's eyes flew up in pain, but the cloth in his mouth helped him to keep from screaming. Celes hurriedly sat down, and Locke held Relm's brushes against the warrior of Doma's upper arm while the blond woman began to wrap up the damage. Meanwhile, Sabin removed the cloth from Cyan's mouth.
When Celes finally was done and had placed her friend's arm in the sling he could carefully sit up. Sabin was ready with another bottle of healing potion to help off the pain.
"Are you alright?" the muscled, blond man asked as he held the bottle by Cyan's lips.
"Yes, I thank thee…" the swordsman muttered.
Terra touched Sabin's shoulder when there was no more potion left. The prince looked up and turned his head as the woman with green hair with a warm smile pointed.
"Oh, right," Sabin said and stood up with a grin, "hey bro', you almost made me crack up totally when you disappeared!"
Edgar chuckled and squeezed Kanai's shoulders.
"Sorry for that," the king said, "I'll try to avoid getting kidnapped again."
"You better."
Edgar and Kanai met Sabin and Terra halfway over the floor.
"You know what," the prince said with a twitching smile, "there's something I want to tell you, but maybe you better sit down."
The king raised his eyebrows.
"What have you done now?" he suspiciously asked.
Sabin chuckled and took Kanai's hand.
"Lovely to see you again, my lady," he said and turned his head at Terra with a warm smile, "this is Terra Branford, our group's finest warrior and my fiancée."
"Your what?!" pretty much everyone (except the poor drugged yeti, of course) exclaimed.
Terra was rather speechless herself as Sabin with a laugh lifted her from the floor by her waist and then pulled her into a hug.
"Well?" he whispered in her ear, smiling with a grain of mischief.
'Go on, say it!' Maduin warmly laughed.
The half-esper wrapped her arms around Sabin's neck and kissed him with a dancing laughter.
"But ask me properly someplace more romantic, okay?" she said, smiling tenderly.
"Good grief…" Edgar muttered.
But then he smiled and shook his head.
"May I suggest that you have the double-wedding after having the army of Figaro arresting my followers?" Gogo said with a small smile.
The waves upon waves of happiness and relief running through the room were apparently even able to wash off some of the emotional exhaust the mimic suffered from.
As Kanai saw him she turned tense from top to bottom, even though she had been warned completely shocked to see a living Kefka.
"Only his twin," Edgar calmingly repeated as he sensed her nervousness, "he's on our side."
Gogo managed to stand up and nodded at the woman by Edgar's side.
"Quite right, my lady," he tiredly said, "me and my brother hadn't the best relationship during those last years of his life."
He rubbed his face with his right hand.
"Are you ready to leave?" he asked the world in general, "I'd like to get out of here."
"Maybe we should just check the other tunnels," Setzer suggested, "to make sure there aren't anyone left that needs help getting out."
"One moment, please…" Relm said, nervously.
Sabin looked in her way. Then he gave a shout.
"Duck, everyone! And cover your ears!"
"Say 'ahh'!" Mog demanded.
"Urrhhh…?" Umaro growled.
Relm swung her red bottle in front of his face. Most of the thick liquid hit the yeti's fur, but a big drop disappeared between the fierce jaws. Relm grabbed Mog's paw and ran for both their lives.
One second passed.
Then the whole cave, probably the entire mountain trembled.
"Grahh!!"
Umaro's giant fists disappeared deep into the floor several times, causing small earthquakes.
It took him a few minutes to calm down, and then he almost collapsed due to all the power he had used in his desperate rage.
"Kupo, you okay now, big fella'?" Mog asked.
"Gruhh, boss…"
"That's a 'yes'," the moogle concluded, "now let's check the tunnels and then blast this place!"
There were three smaller tunnels, apart from the one with the cells and the big one leading to the labyrinth. Celes, Locke and Strago took the one beside the prisons. Sabin, Terra and Mog picked the right one on the other side of the cave, while Gau, Setzer and Relm went into the left.
The few people left in the big cavern patiently awaited.
It took some minutes before the three groups returned, almost simultaneously.
"Only small sleeping chambers," Celes reported.
"The same here," Sabin called as he stepped out in the larger space.
"And they aren't exactly too fond of furniture," Relm grimaced, "let's just get out of here."
Locke and Strago helped Clyde to his feet, and supported his stumbling walk. The drug holding on to his body wouldn't be removed by something even stronger than Tabasco.
All of the people in the cave walked towards the exit. But Gogo suddenly stopped.
"Wait a moment," he said and made everyone turn around, "there's something I have to do."
He walked back to the other side of the altar, grabbed the back of the throne standing there and lifted it, seemingly without much resistance from weight.
He didn't say a word, didn't scream or shout. And that was really creepy.
Pieces of wood flew in all directions as the luxurious chair hit the altar. Gogo threw the remains on the floor and took a deep breath.
"There," he calmly said, "now I feel much better."
Everyone was silent at first. Then Celes slowly began to clap her hands. One by one the others joined in.
Gogo even smiled as he passed the floor, accompanied by the applause.
"Thank you very much," he said and bowed shortly.
With a smile Terra lifted the piece of yarn lying dropped on the floor and began following it back. Her friends walked behind her, Sabin was by her side with his arm around her shoulders.
Since the yarn showed the way and all the traps along that path were already disarmed, it took the group only about one and half an hour to reach the outside.
There wasn't a single member of the group who didn't breath deeply and relieved as they felt the sun and wind on their faces. The sun shone from a clear sky, and even though the winds were a bit chilly on this height it was wondrous.
The Falcon patiently awaited the tired but happy people as they reached the plains of the valley.
"Oh yeah," Cid said and reached into the crazed robes he wore, "here, Setzer."
It was a black, wired cable. Maybe a bit dirty, but otherwise it was in good shape.
"Correction," the scientist said and winked with one eye, "the cables you need in the Falcon's engines can not only be found in Narshe, but also in the machinery of Figaro. And they get pretty worn and are thrown away, but I found one and replaced yours in the airship."
"Why you…" Setzer sighed, but took the cable with a smile.
"I had to win any time possible," Gogo said with a shrug of his shoulders, "a chocobo can't beat the Falcon even if I wasn't going as far as you."
"Hey, how did you do it, Gogo?" Relm asked as they walked through the high grass, "and where in the whole world did you get your clothes?"
"Getting in was easy," the mimic smiled, "I figured the cultist we caught didn't need his holy robe down in the prison, so that costume wasn't hard to get. Then I simply dressed up, went up into the mountains and followed a group of fanatics as they went into their lair. Now there everything almost fell, because I came just in time before they entered the labyrinth."
He snorted and shook his head.
"But the hardest part was to make me look like my brother again," he said with a chuckle.
"You wouldn't believe how hard it was to cut that mane of a hair he had!" Cid sighed, "he hadn't cared much about it for thirteen years, you know."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…" Relm sighed and shook her head, making everyone chuckle.
"And regarding this," Gogo said and grabbed his right, wide sleeve, "I owe you a curtain, Edgar."
"A curtain?!" the king choked.
"Yes."
"So you mean," Edgar slowly said, "that you fooled I don't know how many madmen that you was their master, almost scared me and all my comrades here half to death and saved the day dressed in something usually hanging before windows of my castle?"
"Right."
Gogo reached out and picked the feather from his head. On close up, it looked pretty strange…
"And a piece of paper painted red."
"I would say you're crazy if I didn't think that it would really hurt you," Sabin grinned.
"Ah," the mimic smiled, "that's alright. I kept telling myself that twice every fifth second through the whole show."
They went onboard the Falcon and Setzer replaced the damaged cable before starting the engine. Then he simply pushed "auto-pilot", going north. The airship got to fly without anyone driving it, since neither Setzer nor anyone else had the nerve to do something that complicated for the moment. Everyone was completely caught up in the task of silently staring at nothing, maybe holding on to someone dear and cherish true relief.
But after half an hour the albino man managed to pull himself together and went up to change the course slightly, continuing north northwest towards Figaro castle. Taking that route seemed safer, since Setzer didn't feel like allowing the sight of his ship awaken doubts in the many cultists' dark hearts.