Chapter One
Lilean Sette shaded her eyes against the late spring sun to better scan the garden. It was deserted, as usual, for what use had a military town for a rose garden? Still, for whatever reason it was kept, and kept quite meticulously for that matter. Perhaps it was that Gestahl had forgotten it in his old age, as he had forgotten so many things, after all, the garden was at the very edge of the palace grounds, almost two whole miles outside of Vector. The palace itself was located at the very northernmost point in the city, its main doors opening into the grandest square in Vector, and no city structures were to be built "higher"—that is, farther north, than it. The grounds, though, stretched far behind the cold, steel castle, a myriad of hundreds of gorgeous gardens. Lilean had never seen any groundskeepers, though; a mystery she shrugged off and added to the already long list of Vector's enigmas.
She walked aimlessly along the gray stone paths, the raised plots of earth yielding dozens of tall rose bushes crowded with thick pink flowers in various stages of growth. Lilean grinned and fingered one of her own long pigtails, pink like the roses. She used to get teased because of her unusual hair color, but she'd always been fiercely proud of the brash, bright hue. "It's got personality," she'd retort curtly, with a practiced haughty air.
While she thought, Lilean's feet had carried her to the edge of the garden, a well-crafted wrought-iron railing. The ground dropped off fairly sharply into a wide, stretching meadow, the forest still another few miles off, its trees misty deep green on the horizon. She leaned her elbows against the rail and cradled her head in her arms, closing her eyes. It had been a long day.
Opening her eyes again after a moment, she realized she was not alone. Down the path, in the corner where two sides of the iron fencing met, General Leo stood absently, facing slightly away from Lilean, his fingers loosely knit together as he leaned against the rails. He had a distant expression on his face; he looked half asleep. The sun was setting on his other side and it made his skin look darker, his face hidden in shadow—almost silhouetted—while the light outlined him with a lurid orange glow. Lilean smiled. She'd known Leo for ages, as long as she could remember. In fact, she couldn't even remember meeting him for the first time—she had been six, he fourteen—and for kicks sometimes she had him tell her the story; how she'd been hopelessly lost in the big city and in the grips of despair when a gallant young soldier—himself—had bravely come to her rescue and taken her safely home to the orphanage and out of harm's way. She giggled. When she was younger it had seemed to her to have been just as the fairy tales the nurses had told her, of noble knights rescuing beautiful young damsels in distress. As a result she had infatuated herself with the talented future general. He'd always handled it well, and never ridiculed her in any way or pushed her away. In fact, they remained very close. Now, at sixteen (well, almost sixteen) Lilean knew how silly her childhood fantasies had been. At least, she thought she did.
"Why General Leo!" she exclaimed, a lilt in her voice, "what brings you all the way out here?"
If she'd startled him, he did not show it. He looked over at her, smiling slightly.
"I come here all the time, soon-to-be Lieutenant Lilean. It's a long walk, but worth every minute."
She flushed a little.
"So you heard about my promotion?"
"Lilean, I knew it before almost anybody."
"Before anybody?" she looked perplexed. "How?"
He laughed.
"Cid came to me with the suggestion first. I told him I thought it was an excellent idea."
Lilean ran the rest of the way over and punched him in the shoulder.
"So you knew and you never even bothered to tell me? How long?"
"Oh, Cid approached me about fifteen months ago. Maybe even a year and a half."
"You bastard!"
Leo raised an eyebrow.
"Lilean, such language!"
"I grew up with soldiers. You expect me to speak politely?"
The general smiled again.
"Oh, Leo, I'm so excited!" Lilean continued, "I can't wait until December sixth! Um...the ceremony will be held on my birthday, right?"
"Right. But don't expect anything too fancy, Lilean. After all, keep in mind that while 'lieutenant' may sound like a lot, it's really not that important in the eyes of most."
She sighed. "I know. But that doesn't mean I can't get excited! I mean, I'll be in charge of the Magitek Factory! The whole thing! Cid said he wanted to be able to focus on his research in the MRF, which makes sense. He never truly loved building machines, I mean, he is the Head Scientist after all, not 'Head Engineer.' "
The Magitek Research Facility, or MRF, was the pride and joy—and for some, the greatest fear—of Vector. It was a state-of-the-art, enormous, and elaborately equipped scientific laboratory, built for the specific purposes of studying magic and those mysterious creatures that possessed it, the Espers. Since the Espers had long since sealed themselves away from humankind in a different world altogether, obtaining some had been difficult and how Gestahl had done it remained a mystery. The Espers that Gestahl had managed to capture were contained within the MRF, in a secret, highly guarded laboratory room. Each Esper was locked, suspended unconscious within a sealed crystal tube. Only a handful of the highest officials in Vector and a very few MRF researchers had access to that room, however, everybody knew it existed and that the Espers were there. Gestahl made no secret of his intentions to form an army of Magitek Knights who could pilot the enormous, magical suits of armor Kefka had invented, or of his dream of sorcerer foot soldiers. The only way armor or humans could posses magic was to drain it from an Esper and infuse it into either one.
Attached to the MRF—downstairs from it, really—was the equally amazing Magitek Factory, where the suits of Magitek Armor were manufactured. Nobody really knew truly how large the Factory was; its corridors and catwalks were said to extend for miles underground.
Lilean grinned a bit maliciously. "I can't wait to boss people around! I'll teach them to call me shrimp!"
Leo smiled and shook his head. He looked back toward the west, watching the dying light of the sun, waiting for the orange in the sky to become muted yellow. In the east, the sky was already dark, and the first evening stars could be seen shining over the horizon.
"I think it's best we returned, now," he murmured. "Tomorrow's a busy day." He turned to look at Lilean. "Are you ready to go?"
She nodded, and they began to walk back to the city.
* * *
Lilean rose early the next morning. Since the announcement of her impending promotion, she had received her own room in one of the officers' dorms. True, it was tiny, since she would only be a lieutenant, but she didn't mind. In her previous accommodation, her last roommate had been a soldier, a crazy, bloodthirsty girl who had constantly sleepwalked, battling shades of the rebellious Returners in the dead of night.
What a nuisance she had been.
The sun was up already, despite the early hour, a testimony to the fact that summertime was fast approaching. Lilean stretched and retrieved her white uniform from where she'd tossed it over the back of a chair the previous night. Her room was a mess, as always. She felt no particular inclination to keep it tidy. Why would she? She already knew where everything was, anyway.
She dressed and brushed out her hair, pleating the thick, pink locks into braids with practiced ease. After washing her face she grabbed her bag and left, locking her door behind her. She descended the stairs at the end of the hallway to the cafeteria, where some other officers were sullenly eating their breakfasts. As she passed them on her way to the table where the food was set out, a few of them raised their heads. A captain who looked to be in his mid-thirties whistled loudly and cat-called.
"Look at you, young thing! All alone and away from home. I can keep you warm at night if you're feeling too scared by yourself…"
Lilean made a disgusted face at him. Two older colonels sneered at her. They spoke just loudly enough for her to hear.
"I don't know what the Emperor is thinking promoting all these children. How can they possibly know anything at all about war? At least she's only a lieutenant, nothing special, not like that boy that was made general…"
Lilean's face flushed with anger. She knew that "that boy" they spoke of was Leo, and even though it was now over four years since he was promoted they were still bitter. In their eyes it should have been one of them, and they remained insanely jealous. They would never voice their hatred to him, though. They knew better. Leo was general, after all.
Lilean whirled around to face them.
"Shut up," she snarled, "you're all worn out. You worthless, jealous colonels! If you had been worth making general when you were twenty, you would have been one! Don't you dare talk about Leo like that in my presence!"
The atmosphere in the cafeteria suddenly went still. One of the colonels stood up slowly, a malicious look in his eye.
"Well, lookee here. This little girl seems to have some ideas, and some affections for that boy general. He is quite a handsome young man, isn't he?"
The colonel took a step toward her. Nobody else moved. Lilean's breath quickened.
"What you don't seem to realize, though," the colonel continued, "is that, while you will be a lieutenant shortly, you're not yet. And even so, for an inferior officer, you're much too headstrong. I think a little discipline might be in order…"
Lilean clenched her teeth and held her head high. She wouldn't let him see her fear, no, she'd rather die—
"Colonel Colway you may sit back down."
The colonel stopped short and raised his head, looking past Lilean. His malevolent glare instantly dissolved into an expression of shock. Lilean craned her head around. What was he looking at?
The woman who'd spoken shook her head.
"Lilean, can't you ever manage to stay out of trouble? You seem to be drawn to it like a moth to the flame. You do realize that one of these days you will get burned."
Lilean cast her eyes downward.
"Yes, Celes, I know."
General Celes was sixteen years old. Rather odd, it seems, that Colonel Colway had chosen Leo, who was eight years older than Celes, to complain about, and not her. In truth, it wasn't strange. Celes was born to command. Tall, blonde, beautiful, cold, and hard as granite, Celes was a product of the Magitek Research Facility—a genetically engineered warrior, her cells artificially imbibed with the magic of Shiva; ice. She was both a Mage Warrior and a Magitek Knight. She had been created to lead the finest forces of the Empire. To be general was her destiny, her fate. Everything about her commanded respect in the form of fear.
Lilean did not fear her.
Celes' eyes strayed back to Colonel Colway. "I said you may sit back down."
The Colonel swallowed hard and took his seat slowly. He turned his eyes downward, and did not look back up.
Lilean looked upwards. Her eyes met Celes'. This time she held her gaze. A slight smirk turned the corner of Celes' lips.
"You haven't changed, Lilean Sette," Celes told the soon-to-be lieutenant. "I don't think you ever will."
Lilean lifted her chin defiantly. "I defend the people I care for. I always will."
Not a muscle moved on Celes' face, but a glimmer of warmth shone through in her eyes of icy blue, and the slight smile on her face turned genuine.
"Don't."
Lilean started up, indignant. "Don't what?"
Celes' smile broadened, ever so slightly.
"Don't change."
Lilean blinked, surprised, and said nothing.
Celes nodded once at her, in acknowledgment, and turned to leave.
"Good day, my friend."