Chapter Thirty-Seven- Wild Child: Gau

"Ahh...ohhh..."

Celes moaned and tossed in her bed, gasping out as if drowning and clutching her blanket tightly. "...Locke..."

Celes was chasing Locke down a long stretch of dirt road, panting out for breath and struggling to keep up. He never looked back once, but she knew he could hear her voice. Crying out louder, Celes pumped her legs harder, when all of a sudden, a tall mountain range loomed ahead of them on the path. When Celes blinked, Locke had reached the base, touching the side of the pale rock and suddenly disappearing. She moaned and finally reached the base herself, pounding her fists around but only feeling the stabbing rock push into her flesh, even cutting her in some places. As blood slowly dripped down from her palms, Celes heard a roar, and looked up.

Bursting out from the middle of the mountain range was a ball of flames, the sound being emitted from it almost that like a...bird. The flame suddenly exploded and let out a loud cry, which echoed throughout the sky and made the ground beneath Celes' feet shake. The flame sprouted two flaming wings, and began to ascend higher and higher into the sky. Celes cried out for it to stop, and collapsed to her knees, exhausted. Moments later, she felt something hot flutter onto her shoulder from the sky. Reaching up, Celes found in her hand Locke's charred bandana, which suddenly burst into ashes between her bloody fingers.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Celes! Wake up!"

Celes shot into a sitting up position and gasped, clutching her sheets to her chest and reaching up with her other hand, touching the bandana on her forehead. Beside her, Setzer was sitting in a chair, looking at her worriedly. Celes moaned and let herself collapse back against the bed, absolutely exhausted and drenched in a cold sweat.

"Setzer..." She moaned, and closed her eyes. "Thank the Gods it was a nightmare..."

"More like a night terror." Setzer corrected, sighing. "You were tossing and turning all night."

"It's morning already?" Celes sighed, and rubbed her eyes.

"Actually, it's three in the morning." Setzer yawned, and Celes gasped.

"Oh God Setzer, I'm so sorry I woke you up."

"It's not a problem." Setzer stood up and pushed his messy hair back. "Do you mind if I go back to my room?"

"No, not at all...good-night."

"Good-night Celes..." Setzer shuffled out of the room, and closed the door behind him. Celes sighed and looked down, her knuckles white from clutching the sheets so hard, and slowly released her fingers. What the hell was that dream? She couldn't imagine anything more morbid than dreaming about someone being burned to death...

"Enough of this, Celes." Celes sighed, and reached up, untying Locke's bandana and depositing it on her nightstand. "Now, go to sleep." She lied back down, and stared up at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come. However, a half hour passed, and Celes now no longer felt the least bit sleepy. She shifted her body, kicked off her covers, pulled them back on, and finally let out a huff of disgust, crawling out of bed and padding her way barefoot up the stairs of The Falcon and unlocking the door that led to the deck of the ship.

That evening, the Returners had decided to park in the Veldt, so that they could get an early start in the morning for their search for Gau. Celes' eyes wandered over the yellow-grassed prairie, which was dead silent in the night, and stained with silver moonlight. Tonight was actually warm, comfortable, and Celes wouldn't of minded sleeping out under the stars...that is, if she could sleep at all.

Off in the distance, Celes could see a small cave that she didn't remember seeing the other times she was on the Veldt. Curiosity was coming to her easier than sleep was at the moment, so she decided it was time to do a little spelunking. She ran back down below the deck of The Falcon, and laced up her boots. Creeping down a corridor now, she found a side exit from the ship and leapt down onto the dry Veldt plains, the grass crunching beneath her feet. Feeling at her belt to make sure Atma was at her side, Celes proceeded forward.

"It's so much easier to think when I'm alone." Celes said to herself out loud, looking about the plain scenery around her. And thinking was something she needed to do a lot of. The plan to gather the Returners together again to defeat Kefka was actually starting to go without a hitch. So far, five out of the original twelve (if you counted Shadow) Returners had been safely recovered. However, that number could of been six, if only Terra... Celes hung her head and sighed. Whether Terra knew it or not, she had been the one who had ultimately gathered all of the Returners together in the first place. It was Terra that had endured so much pain and suffering at the hands of the Empire. It was Terra who most deserved to defeat Kefka and bring closure to everything she had been fighting for.

"Terra...I will get you back!" Celes suddenly declared, clutching her fist and looking up at the full moon. "I don't care what you say...I know you still have it in you to fight on! I know you do..." She trailed off and suddenly feeling exhausted, collapsed in the grass and covered her face, heaving a heavy sigh. With or without Terra, there were still so many others to find...how could they possibly do it? Strago, Relm, Mog, Shadow, Locke...all of them probably so far away... And Gau, maybe he wasn't even on the Veldt anymore. Cyan had never been specific on just when it was he saw the young man. Perhaps Gau had given up and let himself get domesticated, or something equally as unlikely back in the times of the World of Balance.

Celes rubbed her eyes slowly, trying so hard to gather her scattered thoughts. How long had it been since she had awoken on the Solitary Island? A week? Maybe two? What Sabin had said was true...it was hard to keep track of time anymore. It just slipped idly by, like sand between someone's fingers. However, Celes knew that their time was quickly running out. If Kefka knew they were alive, he would surely be making a plan to strike, and even if he didn't, every day that went by was a chance for another town to be decimated, like Mobliz. The Returners were simply gambling on whatever the amount of time they had really was.

Celes reached up and rubbed her forehead in thought, trying to come up with some place, anyplace at all, that a Returner might of come home to after the world was ripped apart...

"Uwaaaaaaaaoooo..."

Celes lifted her head and blinked. What was that noise? She stood up, a little nervous now, and started to head towards the cave, like she originally planned. She wanted to at least see what was in that before whatever had just made that noise came out to eat her. Yes, being eaten would surely not be an honorable way to go.

When she reached the cave, she could feel a soft, comforting warmth flowing out of it, not like that horrible dragon's breath she had encountered earlier today. She held her breath for a moment, listening. Inside, somewhere close...she could hear the crackling of a fire. Stepping in, Celes cupped her hands around her mouth and called out.

"Hello?"

Her voice only echoed back her reply, so she stepped in further, and tried again. This time, a faint reply was heard.

"Who is it?"

Instead of reply, Celes followed the echoes, until she came into an open area, and blinked in surprise. Gathered around a glowing red fire were quite a throng of people, all dressed in dirty, raggedy clothes. Some were sitting up and staring at the fire with dead, empty eyes, and others were sleeping soundly, wrapped up in more clothes or thin, holey blankets. One of them looked up at Celes in surprise.

"Were you the one saying Hello?"

"Yes." She replied, and looked around, suddenly feeling very depressed. "I was exploring, and I found this cave."

"This is our home now." The person replied sadly. She was a thin, short woman, with brown wavy hair pulled back in a ponytail and a gray shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She was also barefoot. "We were chased out of our forest village by a giant beast, almost like...a dragon. Celes paled.

"A dragon?"

"Something like it." She sighed, and the others that were awake murmured in confirmation. "We were forced down here, where Kefka and the dragon cannot find us. We've been here ever since the world...fell apart."

"I see..." Celes trailed off, feeling very uncomfortable now, even a little angry. These were victims of Kefka, just by his presence in the world. She felt terrible that she was not flying to his tower at that very moment and beating the living shit out of him.

"The monsters here on the Veldt have been getting wilder and bigger." A man commented, who was sitting next to the woman. "And since two years ago, other creatures have emerged that have been lying dormant for years. I used to be a scholar at a university in Albrook, and I studied them."

"What?" Celes blinked, a flashback suddenly coming into her mind. She was standing at a counter, in Albrook, listening to two men converse over the contents in a book.

"According to this text, it says: "Eight dragons seal away this awesome beast. Its name is Crusader... Defeat these dragons, and its power will be released!""

"Wow...I wonder if it's the same eight dragons that came about when the world came unzipped? Along with Doom Gaze and Phunbaba...Horrible creatures..."

Celes leaned against the side of the wall, holding her breath. Were they talking about the same thing?

"Do you have a few moments?" The man suddenly asked. "I could tell you about them, if you like. You look interested, and we're on night watch, which can get a little boring." Celes looked at him, and nodded.

"Yes, I'd like to listen." She came over and sat down across from him and the fire, sitting next to a little girl who was curled up in her mother's arms, both asleep. "What do you know about these mystery monsters? And what is Crusader?"

"Well, supposedly, they were created 1000 years ago, during the War of the Magi." The man explained. "To be used as weapons, of course. It is not really known which side of the war created them...but they were so powerful, and so uncontrollable, that both sides agreed, right in the midst of battle, to seal them away forever. So, the three sisters, who brought magic to this land and created the Espers, sealed away eight dragons, which in turn also sealed away the most powerful Esper that they did create, Crusader."

"What...what is Crusader?" Celes questioned, absolutely fascinated.

"There are no stories that relay accurate information." The man replied. "Some say that Crusader was a fourth sister that had betrayed the others, so they turned her into an Esper war machine. Others say that it was the leader of the human faction who despised all things magic, so as his punishment, he was captured by the sisters and turned into the thing he hated most. It was an Esper so powerful that it needed more than just magic to seal it. Therefore, it was sealed by the eight dragons of the War of the Magi: The Storm Dragon, the Fire Dragon, the Ice Dragon, the Water Dragon, the Earth Dragon, the Holy Dragon, the Death Dragon, and the Illumina Dragon. Each of these beasts, as you can imagine, are the masters of their own elements."

"I see..." Celes trailed off, and bit down on her lip.

"There were two other monsters who emerged from the Earth that were born during the War of the Magi: Phunbaba, the ogre and master of strength of the Earth, and Doom Gaze, the master of the heavens, also known as the flying grim reaper. Doom Gaze can be seen flying about in the sky, and you know he is over you, because the air around you suddenly turns cold and dark, and if you look up and see it's eye, it is said you will die instantly." The woman nodded in agreement, and Celes sighed, resting her cheek against her hand. She wasn't so sure she wanted to hear anymore. Luckily, the man took the hint by the look in her eyes, and looked down at his hands nervously. The ice in Celes' eyes had not melted just yet. The woman spoke up now, trying to take some of the heat off her companion.

"So, General Celes, what brings you here?" She asked, and Celes blinked.

"General Celes? You actually recognized me?" Then she shook her head and sighed. "I mean...it's Ex-General Celes, now. I denounced myself from the Empire a long, long time ago." There was an uncomfortable silence, and Celes actually heard someone cough and quickly shut themselves up.

"For your own reasons, I'm sure." The woman smiled, and Celes smiled back, just a little. She was grateful the woman didn't want to rip open the wound that the Empire had laid on Celes' soul. "But what are you doing here? On the Veldt, I mean? What are you exploring for?"

"Oh...well, I kind of lied before." Celes confessed. "I mean, I was exploring, but I was also kind of searching for someone. And old friend of mine...we became separated long ago, and I heard a rumor he might be here." The woman looked a little upset at this.

"Unless he is one of us, I highly doubt anyone could survive here on the Veldt for too long." She explained. "We hunt for our food in a pack, much like animals..." She shuddered and pulled her shawl tighter around herself. "Because there is no other way to survive. The monsters out here have become vicious and unrelenting when it comes to getting a human meal. Just the other day, we lost a child that had been foolish enough to wander outside on his own..." She shook her head. "We're not even one hundred percent safe in here...that's why we need guards at all hours of the day."

"Oh..." Celes sighed and pushed her hair back. "Well, do you know anyone named Gau? He's the one I'm looking for."

"No, I'm afraid not dear." The woman shook her head again. "No one by that name here."

"Well..." Celes stood up and brushed off her pants, trying to harden her spirit and summon the strength for the possibility of a failure in their mission to come here. She stood a little straighter and turned to walk out. "Thanks, but I must be getting back." She said it diligently and a little coldly. The old Celes had been awakened so slightly, nudged by the disappointment that always used to plague her.

Near the entrance to the cave, Celes was surprised to see a man sitting, smoking something in a pipe and watching the liquid silver moon. When he turned and saw Celes, he pulled the pipe out of his mouth.

"I heard what you were talking about in there."

"So?" Celes asked a little edgily. "What's it to you? You'd better get inside before some nasty monster comes through and snatches you up."

"Someone needs to have a nap, I see." He smirked, and Celes turned red. Honestly, she was too tired for this crap. She just really wanted to go to bed, and forget about everything she had heard tonight. Part of her even wanted to be back in her bed on the Solitary Island, in her comatose state. The oath she had made to herself just moments before was starting to sound like total bullshit as it echoed in her mind.

"Please, just back off, before I throw you out to the monsters myself." Celes snapped, and prepared to march by. However, the man laughed, getting up and tapping whatever remained in his pipe out into the grass at his feet.

"There is a boy on the Veldt that will only approach a group of three or less people."

"What?" She whirled around, and the man crossed his arms underneath his chest.

"It's true. That's why he's never joined our tribe. We always travel together, remember?"

"Oh shut up, that is really the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I don't know what you've been smoking in that pipe, but you'd better cut some out of your diet." Celes rolled her eyes and with that, headed back for The Falcon. All of a sudden, she just felt drained.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaooooo..."

"Ugh!" Celes screamed, her voice bouncing off the skies as she covered her ears and ran faster. "Go away!!!!!!!!"

**********

The next morning, an exhausted Celes dragged herself out of bed at the first sign of daylight that trickled through her window. She felt like someone had cast Zombie on her, but she knew that not even Holy Water could bring her back from this dead. However, when she reached the dining hall of The Falcon, she was surprised to see it totally abandoned. She expected for sure to see the guys waiting for her, scarfing down everything in sight and making battle plans for Kefka. But, alas, everything was in perfect place, and there wasn't a soul in sight. Coming in closer to the table, however, Celes could see a note scrawled out in Cyan's handsome handwriting.

"Celes-

Went to explore the Veldt a little, since you apparently did so last night. (That is, you weren't very quiet about coming back onto the ship.) Get your rest and wait for us to come back later.

-Cyan

P.S.- Edgar wants to know if he can help you sleep *somehow*."

"...Oh jeeze." Celes crumpled up the note and threw it out. The last thing she wanted was to be babied by a bunch of rogues, but it appeared that that was exactly how this morning was going to play out. Collapsing in a chair, Celes rested her head in her arms and tried to rack her brains. It was killing her just sitting here on the ship, doing absolutely nothing. She felt like every second was a tragic waste. Celes reached up, gently grasping at her long, tangled blonde hair, and gave an angry little tug. She had been playing leader ever since she woke up, and she realized that that was one of the only things keeping her going right now. She decided that she should go after the others, before she drove herself mad on this ship.

Tying her hair up in a ponytail as she made her way to the same port exit she used last night, Celes hopped down from the airship and looked around. During the daytime, the Veldt looked a lot less threatening, but also more like a barren wasteland, without the moonlight to coat it. However, although she could see as clear and far ahead as possible, she saw no sign of the others. They could of been anywhere.

"I'm not going to play some poor tired girl!" Celes declared, putting her hands on her hips as she started forward. "I'm Celes Chere, and..."

"Uwaaaaaaaaaoooo!"

"ACK!"

Thump!

Celes gasped out as she was suddenly struck from behind, the impact of whatever hit her so intense that she immediately went sprawling to the ground. She couldn't catch her fall, so she fell flat on her face, something heavy and warm clutching at her from behind. No mater how hard she struggled, Celes just couldn't seem to get up...and the more she struggled, the more exhausted she got...

"Ahh...help..." Celes groaned and struggled harder, trying to unpin herself from the ground. "Get off, you dirty son of a..."

"Awaao? Miss Celes ish angry?"

"...What?!" Celes gasped, feeling a lowering of resistance from her attacker's end, and finally managed to jerk herself up, throwing it backwards into the grass and rolling over on her backside, panting out for air. Her attacker, rolled up in a defensive ball, eventually untangled itself and kneeled, staring at her intensely. Celes blinked and jutted out an accusing finger, not believing her eyes.

"GAU!"

"CELES! UWAAAAOOO!" Suddenly Gau dove on top of Celes again, clutching her in a big bear hug and nuzzling his head quite awkwardly near her breasts. Celes turned red and tried to pat Gau assuringly.

"Ok, ok, get off Gau...Gau...GAU, GET OFF!" The boy finally managed to peel himself off of her, grinning like a moron and bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Me, Gau! You, friend! We friends together! We travel together!"

"Of course, of course Gau..." Celes laughed half-happily and half- nervously. "Oh boy, I thought you had left the Veldt for good...I'm so glad I was wrong!"

"Gau would never leave Veldt." Gau said thoughtfully. "Gau love the monsters, learn the way of the monsters for survive. Gau learn many new techniques for defeat of Kefka."

"Oh, Gau, that's wonderful!" Celes exclaimed, and this time, she could not help but give him the big bear hug. Gau let out a happy noise and smiled more, hugging her back tightly and looking up. "Uwwaooo, here come others! And Mr. Thou!"

"Celes!" Sabin cried out from the distance, running towards the pair in their embrace. "Is that who I think it is...?"

"Mr. Thou!"

Gau broke away from Celes and galloped over to Sabin and the others on all fours, diving on top of the startled blitzer and throwing him backwards. Cyan, Edgar, and Setzer all just stared in shock, and Celes ran over to them, laughing.

"Celes, how did you find him?!" Edgar asked wondrously. "We looked everywhere!"

"I didn't find him, he found me!" Celes exclaimed. "I was looking for you guys."

"This guy at a cave told us that a wild boy on the Veldt would only approach someone if they were in a group of three or fewer people." Setzer said, putting his hands on his hips. "Do you suppose he was talking about Gau...?"

"You went to the cave?" Celes asked, and Setzer shook his head.

"We didn't go in the cave, just to the outside."

"I went there last night." Celes said, squirming as she felt Gau retreat back to her to hug her leg. "The people in there were driven from their homes in the forest by a giant, dragon-like creature, and they are also now in hiding from Kefka. A man also told me about the monsters that were released into the world when it was ripped open, monsters that dated back from the War of the Magi. There's even a sealed Esper, named Crusader, protected by eight mystical dragons...One of them being the Storm Dragon."

"The Storm Dragon?" Cyan blinked. "The Dragon of Mount Zozo?"

"We had to defeat it to find you." Celes explained. "Something was terribly wrong with it...it was ready to finish us all off in a heartbeat. I think it was definitely one of the eight legendary dragons."

"Dragon in forest not one of legendary dragons." Gau suddenly interrupted, and everyone turned to look at him. Gau stood up and scratched his head. "Dragon in forest just dinosaur. Dinosaur forest now." The Returners all looked at each other, frowning.

What was a dinosaur?

"You no fight now!" Gau cried, jumping up nervously and waving his arms. "Dinosaur too strong...strongest of Dinosaur forest, Brachiosaur! Gau think Returners wait. Wait for more Returners to come. Then kill Brachiosaur, then free village people." Sabin sighed.

"I'm afraid the kid is giving us no choice. We won't be able to help the village people if we become a Brachiosaur dinner. Whatever a Brachiosaur is, that is."

"Secret of Dinosaurs in cave." Gau jumped up again. "Returners learn allllllll about Dinosaurs in cave."

"That cave?" Celes pointed over towards the cave that she had explored the previous night, and Gau nodded. She looked back at the other Returners, who nodded.

"Let's go see what Gau has to show us." Sabin suggested. "I mean, the last time we did, he saved Cyan and myself."

"Ohhh, I love caves." Edgar grinned. "This should actually be fun!"

"I didn't get to see the rest of the cave." Celes said thoughtfully. "So I think it's worth a shot. I mean, who knows what we'll find in there?"

**********

The figure gasped as another fierce slash ripped through his body, causing him to finally cry out and tumble to the rocky floor. A deep roar followed, and pounding footsteps began to ascend upon the fallen man. Barely managing to keep his eyes open, he could make out a blurry mass of matted purple and silver fur, giant ivory horns emerging from the sides of its head , and long, glistening yellow teeth. A warm puddle was forming underneath his side, something sticky and red. As he closed his eyes, a fuzzy image came to him...the image of a quaint little town. At the end of the main road, a tall, young, beautiful girl could be seen, waving and calling out anxiously.

"Clyde..."

"Clyde!"