Split Ends

Introduction: Woohoo! Finally got this chapter done! Anyhoo, here's the 12th chapter (no I'm not done yet, this still has about 3 chapters left to go) in which the plotline is completely explained. There is some humor in this chapter as Colin, Lyle, and Guiness are back into play.

Italics- thoughts, memories, etc

Bold- important stuff, actions

Disclaimer: Still don't own FFTA… nor do I have a lawyer. Please don't sue!

XII

*****

    "Come on!!" Mewt called behind them as they rushed up the stairs after Llednar. Llednar turned back his blonde head and laughed, "You think you can get there before me? Think again!!"

   He stopped short, just in front of the door. His grin was oozing with malice as he tossed a smokescreen down. Marche, who had taken Ritz's hand, clutched it tight. "Llednar!"

   Llednar grinned at them and cackled, disappearing right as the smoke overtook their vision. The smoke stung their eyes and slipped into their lungs, blinding them momentarily and sending them all coughing. But as they tried to disperse the smoke, another figure appeared in the cloud.

  "Dammit!" Ritz coughed. "Slip rain!" She raised her staff and a little rain cloud appeared overhead. As the water beat the smoke down, the figure stood in the midst patiently. "There he is!" Marche cried, thrusting his hand forward. "Llednar!"

    "Naughty, naughty," the figure cooed. "Such naughty warriors made big brother angry…" The smoke dispersed, and the boy came into view.

   Marche's eyes widened. "Doned?!"

    Mewt stared in disbelief. "Doned… it is true… they got you too."

 Doned's brow furrowed. "What the hell are you talking about?? I've always been this way! No one has got me!" He unsheathed his sword. "I'm a brave warrior who can use magic, a mageknight like big brother's friend Mewt! Big brother says that you must be chastised… and chastise I shall!"

    "Doned you have it all wrong!" Marche cried. "You're my brother, and that's Prince Mewt!" He nodded to Mewt, who stepped forward. "Your big brother's friend is Llednar!"

"You? You are not worthy to be my brother!" Doned growled. He pointed his sword at Marche. "How dare you say that commoner is the Prince! Burn in hell!"

   "Wait!" Marche cried, grabbing Doned's sword. "Doned please! It's Marche! If you can't remember me as your brother-

  "You are not big brother, bastard!!" he snarled, trying to wrench his sword free.

"-then at least remember me as a person…" Marche said gently. "Doned, it's me. In the real world you weren't able to walk because of your illness, you poked fun at me constantly about how I wasn't good at sports… you always got most of the attention, and half the time I felt like I wasn't even part of the family…"

  Doned's cold eyes stared back at him, and although there was no emotion in those eyes he knew his little brother was listening. "It's Marche, Doned. I never wanted to hurt you when we got here… you were so wrapped up in self pity that you lashed out at me when we were in Ivalice last time. You were so happy; you could walk in this world.

   Even though you can be a royal pain sometimes, you're a good person. You're much stronger than I ever could become… and you can grab attention…" The tears were coming back. "I'm sorry Doned… I'm sorry you're this way… I never wanted this to happen…"

   Doned stood there, watching Marche cry into his sword. His shaking grip loosened slightly as he watched his brother, his body beginning to shake uncontrollably. "M-m…"

  Marche looked up at Doned, who was still shaking wildly. "Doned?"

 "M…m…" Doned's eyes kept flickering from a red tint to his regular blue color. Emotion was trying to force its way to the expression. The sword clattered to the ground. "M…"

    "He's trying to say Marche…" Ritz watched in awe. Mewt stepped forward. "Doned… it's us. I'm Mewt, the quiet kid who brought in that weird book… the book that got us sucked into this mess."

  Ritz touched Doned's shoulder, her hand vibrating with his body. "I'm Ritz… their classmate. I was with Shara the whole time in Ivalice… so you never saw me much…"

   Doned gazed at each one in turn, a dazed expression on his face. Suddenly his legs buckled and he sunk to his knees, his eyes widening. "M-ma…"

  "Doned…" Marche drew closer to his brother.

  "Marche!!" Doned screamed, covering his ears as if shuddering from a loud sound. A sound wave rippled through their bodies as Doned's scream echoed. Sweating profusely, Doned clutched his ears, screaming in terror. "Marche! Marche, help me!!!"

   "Doned!" Marche cried out, throwing his arms around his brothers trembling body. Doned was in a complete cold sweat, shaking in his brother's arms. "Doned, I'm right here! Ritz and Mewt are right here with us… you've got to wake up!"

    "M-Marche… I… I…" Doned whispered shakily. Suddenly he let out another shriek of terror. His pupils dilated and lost their emotion. "GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"

 Once again the familiar sparks shot up and down Marche's body. Before anybody could react Marche was thrown through the door with an earsplitting crack.

    Doned growled and stood up, pointing his sword at Marche's unconscious body. "DIE!"

   Out of the point of his sword shot a bright energy ball that looked similar to Omega. Ritz clutched Mewt's arm. "Mewt! Come on, we have to help him!!"

   Mewt was two steps ahead of her. Racing to reach Marche before the Omega like attack did, he pressed faster. Standing in front of Marche's body, he held up his staff, round tip pointed. "I won't let you kill him!! I'm not weak anymore!!!"

    Marche opened his eyes wearily. "Mewt…?" Ritz collided with the ground next to him, pulling him in her arms. "Marche! You're ok!"

  Doned's sword was smoking, his cocky grin seething as the energy ball smacked into the three. Mewt held his ground against the slicing wind, his staff held horizontally for protection. "I… won't… let… him… die!!!"

   Doned's eyes widened in horror; Ritz gasped. Mewt had steered the energy ball to the wall beside him, staff pointed at Doned's heart. Panting heavily, there was a new, angered look in Mewt's eyes.

    Ritz stared in amazement. He threw off the Omega look alike… Omega… Omega can kill in an instant! He's much stronger than he looks…

  "Now then," Mewt glared at Doned. "You're dead."

    Doned sunk to his knees, thunderstruck. No one's ever been able to escape that attack…let alone block it!

  "Wait!!" Marche leapt from Ritz's arms and threw himself in front of the two. Mewt blinked in surprise. "Marche?"

   Marche's arms were spread out. "Don't hurt him Mewt! He's my brother!"

 "He'll kill you in an instant!" Mewt cried. "He'd kill us all! I… I couldn't bear that!"

   Ritz stepped forward. "Mewt, Marche's going to be all right ok? Stand down." Mewt reluctantly lowered his staff. She turned to Marche. "Marche, that boy behind you isn't Doned."

   "Yes it is!" Marche still stood in front of his petrified brother. "He looks like Doned, his name is Doned…"

  "But," Ritz stopped him, holding her index finger to his lips. "Would Doned try to kill you? Would Doned betray you?"

   "N-no…" Marche sighed, dropping his arms. "But… Doned's inside that monster…"

"Yes, but in order to get the real Doned out," Ritz smiled. "We must experiment. So you can't defend that Doned, because that Doned isn't our Doned, ok?"

   "Right…" Marche sighed and stepped away. Ritz smiled at where Doned had sat petrified. But Doned was gone. "Doned?"

   Marche gazed around, shaking his head in despair. "Doned…"

****

   "Hn…"

      Cid sat in the dank dungeons chained heavily to the walls around him. The most he could do was sit still, considering that if he pulled on any of the chains hard enough they would bring the walls crashing down on him. Sighing, he jiggled one of his wrists, the echo of the chains surrounding him. "Well, this is a predicament…"

  He gave a slight nudge on one chain, designating a loose bolt connecting one of the webs of chains to the wall. The bolt loosened further, giving a light squeak. Most of the chains were rusted, making it difficult to do much of anything. He sighed. "I could just sit tight until the chains rust to nothing…"

   He gazed up at the small window a few feet up, a crack in the wall that provided his one ray of sunshine. The dungeon of the castle went for a good 10 yards into the ground, however not all of the dungeons were completely underground. He smiled, basking in the light warmth. I sure hope Mewt's all right…

  Suddenly there was scuffling out in the hallway. Through the thick bars Cid could see the heavy door creak open, a handful of men filing through it. Three of the men were wearing dark masks over their faces; two were bangaa. The last person was the only one Cid recognized. "Llednar."

   "Llednar Twem to you," one of the bangaa growled. "Ssstupid human…"

"That's enough," Llednar growled, reaching through the bars to Cid. "Hello Daddy…"

   "You…" Cid growled, bearing his teeth. Llednar grinned maliciously. "Now, now Daddy, we wouldn't want you to escape. That's why we locked you up in here. You caused Mama so much pain… I think we should deliver a little revenge on her behalf…"

  "What…?" For the length of time Cid had been in chains (he did not know how long exactly) he had no idea what he was there for. "You don't mean…"

  "Execution…" Llednar grinned, gesturing to the other three. "Oh bangaa relish it!"

  One of the bangaa drew out a long, gleaming, thick blade, probably a Falchion. He grinned from under his dark mask at Cid, his eyes glittering with glee. "Come on then, let's get it over with."

  Llednar clapped his hands. "Excellent! Now then…" He snapped his fingers and the chains binding Cid disappeared. Cid stood still, waiting as the bangaa fiddled with the lock in order to get to him.

   At that moment, Doned came flying into the room, bawling. "Prince!!! Marche, Mewt, and Ritz have escaped and I can't find big brother anywhere!!!"

   "Ujuidar?" Llednar growled. Doned hugged Llednar's leg tightly. "Prince!! I miss big brother!"
   Cid stood, slack jaw in amazement, staring at Doned. "D-Doned?"

 Doned turned his emotionless blue eyes to Cid. "Who's this your Majesty?"

   Cid's eyes softened. "Doned, it's Cid. I'm Mewt's father."

 Doned's eyes narrowed. "So you're that scum's father!! Your son is an imposter!!" He glanced up at Llednar. "Oh! Are you going to execute him? Executions are so much fun to watch!"

  Cid stared at Doned, trying to process what the small boy had just said. Marche's little brother… he's…he's under Llednar's control??

  "Actually…" Llednar's eyes were narrowed slightly. "I think I have something else to attend to…" He turned to the bangaa, who were trying to hide their disappointment. "You three! Come with me! Leave him in his cell, let his body rot with the rats… then we'll chop off his decayed head!"

   "Decayed meanssss better pressserved…" the bangaa grinned at Cid. "And maybe we can have another head to keep it company?"

  "Indeed," Llednar swished out the door in a huff, Doned and the bangaa at his heels.

 The heavy door banged shut, the sound echoing throughout the cell. Cid sunk to his knees at the sound of the lock clicking shut outside the thick door. Doned…

  He stared at the iron bars, amazed. Llednar has spread his armies to the outskirts of Ivalice… all who oppose are immediately killed… but using his real self's friends as puppets…He shook his head in dismay.

  I've got to get out of here.

 He only had a few moments before execution took place. Doned's outburst had bought him some time, but only by a couple minutes. Cid knew that within the next ten minutes the "Prince" would come flouncing back through that heavy door, the three bangaa behind him with one intent: his head.

   Despite the lack of time, Cid found that he had trouble working quickly. Maybe it was that the shock of what had been happening had finally hit him, or just the fact that he was exhausted from the chains. Gently he crept to the wall, fingering the larges stones, looking for a break.

   Annoyingly the bangaa had confiscated his weapons when they had dragged him in. His huge sword was strapped and chained to the wall in a room somewhere on one of the upper floors; Cid didn't know exactly where it was. He sighed after tapping the stones with his fingers; the place was definitely built to hold well.

  He gazed up at his only ray of sunlight, the small window high above. Shadows passed through the sunlight, sending periods of darkness raining across the surfaces. Cid squinted in the light and could hear voices.

   "Come on you ninnies!" growled a boy's voice, the boy sounded around Mewt's age. "We have to find away in this hunk of stone!"

   "All right, all right!" a second boy snapped. "We heard you the first time! Is it my fault that I'm slow?? I'm carrying a moogle that weighs a ton! What the heck do moogles eat… wrought iron??"

   "Maybe if you had taken all the gears he carries out of the pockets as I asked you to…" a cool feminine voice replied. "He wouldn't be so heavy."

   "Can we focus?" piped a smaller voice, definitely a moogle's. "We have to get into the palace! We've got to save Marche, Mewt, and Ritz!"

    Cid jumped at the sound of his son's name. Swiftly he latched onto the stone wall and carefully made his way up to the window, praying he'd catch them in time.

  "I'm amazed…" said the second boy. "There're no guards on duty. How dense is this Llednar kid? I mean come on! The Final Fantasy baddies could whip up minions at a drop of a hat!"

   "Guiness would you stop jabbering on about Final Fantasy already???" growled the first boy. "Geez… the whole way here the most you can do is comment on how the monsters are similar to ones in Final Fantasy…"

  "Yes, but didn't that come in handy though?" the second boy… Guiness said. There was shuffling that signaled that the second boy had made his point.

   "There's no way we're getting in through this side," sighed a third boy's voice. Cid scrambled up faster, he was close to the window now. As he gripped the sill he cried, "Wait!!"

     All the figures stopped abruptly. He could see that the party consisted of three humans, a moogle (another he assumed was on somebody's back), and two vieras. "What was that?" said one of the viera, a voice he recognized.

  "Miss Radiuju!!!" He shouted, gripping the sill and clinging with all his strength. It was a long fall if he let go, so he tightened his grip. "Miss Radiuju! Down here!"

    "Oh my god…" he heard her voice soften as she spotted the tiny window. Frantically she bent down to peer through the window. "Cid?!"

  "Yes!" he breathed in a hushed whisper. "It's me! What're you guys doing here?"

"We should be asking the same from you," came Montblanc's voice. Moments later his fuzzy head was peering down at him beside Miss. Radiuju's. "What the hell are you doing in there?"

  "Hn. Llednar locked me up in one of the dungeons. Maybe you guys can help me out," Cid said. "Considering I'll be a headless warrior in about… ten minutes."

  "What?!" everyone chorused. Guiness jarred Nono awake quickly, pushing him into the window. "Nono, get inside there and try to find a way to get Cid out!"

   "Wha-? But I'm… sleepy…" Nono yawned, clinging to the sill. He was practically sitting on Cid's shoulder. Lyle smacked him on the head. "Move it or lose it sleepyhead! We don't have much time!"

  "He can't blast the wall," Cid whispered. "So building something wouldn't help. Llednar has extremely powerful magic…"

   "Well there must be some way we can get you out of there…" Miss. Radiuju said gently. She ran her fingers through his hair. "I could summon someone…"

   "No, no, NO!" the three boys chorused. "We're not going through that again!!"

 "Why not??" growled Montblanc. "She summoned Ramuh didn't she??"

  "Yea," said Guiness. "Except he was naked!" Lyle nodded in agreement.

 "God…" Colin shook his head. "That was so humiliating… ten templars died laughing…"

   "Well they died didn't they??" Montblanc retorted and the four started arguing.

  "Wait a minute…" Cid said. Nono had been wandering around the cell, poking the rocks with his tiny hammer. "Nono! Can you fit through those bars?"

  Nono answered him by simply walking through the thick bars. He beamed at Cid from outside the bars. "Why do you think they put moogles in smaller cells in prison?"

   "Perfect!" Cid cried. "Nono, hand me the keys! We can sneak out of here and search for an alternate entrance for the others to get in!"

   "Yes sir!" Nono saluted him and carefully picked the huge lock on the cell door. Within minutes Cid was free. Cid grinned at Nono and turned to the window where the rest of the clan stood. "Listen. Nono and I will try to find a passage to the outside. Once we find something Nono will come back here and lead you to the other side and I'll let you all in."

   Miss. Radiuju beamed. "Great! Did you hear that guys?"

 "And Shiva was in a skimpy outfit for Pete's sake!!" Colin retorted. "That is not a summon!!"

  "Um… guys?" Miss. Radiuju tapped Colin's shoulder, but the younger boy shrugged it off. Montblanc was enraged. "At least she can summon something you stooge! You can't even use magic!"

  "Hey little fuzzball I saved your ass in that last battle!!"

  "Guys…"

  "That may be so but I've saved you loads of times! Soldiers are so worthless! Why can't you upgrade to fighter or something?"

  "Cause I'm not a god damn genius ok?!"

 "GUYS!!!" Shara shouted, shutting all of them up instantly. They all turned and stared at Shara. Shara was usually the most reserved being in the clan and it was rare she ever raised her voice, let alone scream or shout. "You're being an impudence. Cid has an idea on how to get out of the cell and get us inside, so I suggest you shut up and listen." Her eyes narrowed on the three boys and Montblanc, whom had turned their backs on each other. "That and apologize…"

  "Hmph…" Montblanc opened on eye. "Impudent human."

 "Scrawny moogle," snorted Colin.

 Shara gave a low growl. The four immediately turned back to each other and apologized, although you could tell there was a bitter ring to their apologies. Cid then explained his plan to them and immediately left with Nono. The castle was big as it was and they had little time for mistakes in direction.

   The rest of the clan waited outside the window in the grass while the two searched for a passageway. The three boys and Montblanc had decided they weren't speaking to each other and sat a distance apart from each other, every so often casting an evil glare at the other person.

  Shara sat down in the grass, listening through the wall to trace Cid's steps. Miss. Radiuju stood amidst the others, clutching her staff in bewilderment. "Oh dear…"

   Montblanc sighed and stared up at the sky. It was the clearest blue that it had been in days, which was awkward. Suddenly a trail of cirrus caught his eye, and he pursed his lips. A storm's brewing…

   "I sure hope Mewt is all right…" Lyle said solemnly, resting his head in his hands. "We're supposed to protect him… although half the time we're too busy finding him."

   "I'm sure Marche and Ritz found him by now…" Guiness sighed. "If they haven't been killed by Llednar's Omega attack."

  "Llednar's a loon if you ask me," Colin replied. "I wonder why he's so dead set on keeping the book and killing Mewt."

   "Personally," Shara said, taking her ear from the wall for a moment. "The most I've been wondering is how we made it this far. All you guys have done the entire trip here is complain and fight."

   "Hmph…" Lyle sniffed. "Somebody's got a stick in their ass."

 "She's right you know," Colin sighed. He leaned over and picked up Montblanc. "If we're going to rescue them we have to get along."

   Montblanc sighed. "It's just so aggravating… we've been walking for days just to get to the palace, and when we get here they've completely blocked the entire building off."

  "Well that explains the lack of guards at the prison," Guiness said. "They were all either guarding the palace gates… or out rallying people for Llednar's capture…"

  Miss. Radiuju was silent for a moment. "There has been so many wars… each town, city, place… they've all been falling to Llednar like dominoes…"

  Shara stared at the wall, waiting for a sign that they had found something. Ritz…

 "Shara…" Miss. Radiuju knelt beside her. Gently she wrapped her arms around the viera, trying to comfort her. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're all right."

  Shara pursed her lips, allowing the other viera to embrace her. "Yes… Ritz is strong…" She gazed up at the evening sky. It was almost twilight, and still Nono had not returned with any news. She closed her eyes. "I just pray she's in one piece…"

  "Hm, knowing him he probably will," Lyle stood, walked over to the wall of the palace, and gently knocked on the stone. It felt like one solid object, instead of a bunch of stones. "That's some protection spell…"

"You know what I just realized?" Colin said thoughtfully. He looked at the others and smiled. "Marche's been acting a bit strange hasn't he? Not in a bad way… just… different. Especially around Ritz."

  Lyle swatted at him. "You're delusional. Marche's perfectly fine."

 Montblanc smiled wittingly. "You've noticed it too huh? Maybe… Marche's growing up?"

  Miss. Radiuju nodded, and laid her head on Shara's shoulder. Colin lay back onto the grass, staring up at the first few stars that had appeared in the sky. "Maybe…"

   "Kupo!! Guys!! We found a way in!!" came Nono's voice. Excited, the small moogle crawled out of the window and into the open air. "It's on the west wing, right where Prince Mewt's room is!!" He bounced up and down as the others got up quickly. "Come on! Follow me!"

   Bounding around the corner, he led the clan halfway around the castle to a thick wall where two huge turrets jutted out overhead. They could tell the wall was extremely thick, too thick to break and definitely too smooth to scale. Lyle sat down in confusion. "Nono, did you hit your head on something? There's nothing here but a huge wall."

  "Deceiving yes?" Nono beamed. "But it seems that someone blasted a hole through the wall at some point, and it must've been pretty recent…" He hopped over to the wall and extended his stubby arm. Touching the wall he pressed, and his hand slid through the wall. "See? Llednar didn't have time to rebuild it, so he merely cast an illusion spell to deceive."

  "What the?" Colin walked over and slid half his body through the wall. "Well this is awkward…"

  "Cid's on the other side," Nono smiled. "Come on now, quietly. We have to make this quick, there are still guards on duty you know."

   One by one they slid through the wall and appeared in a dank, damp room. The room looked completely ransacked, only half the torches were lit and the whole place was in ruins. Montblanc blew some fireballs to light the other torches, and the others stepped around the books and rubble toward the center, the only part of the room where the floor was almost completely untouched.

   A podium stood in the center of the circular room with a book rested upon it. On a table a few feet away lay a bloodstained sword, the blood not yet dry. The staircase slithered upward, and leaning on the banister stood Cid.

   "Whoa…" Guiness stopped the others and pointed to the ceiling. "Look."

 The ceiling was a complete map of the stars and constellations; the magic circle curling through some of the stars. The shiny balls of lights revolved around the ceiling, planets slowly orbiting around a shining ball of fire: the sun.

  "Wow…" Colin's eyes were wide. "What is this place…?"

 Cid stood at the podium, staring down at the book in wonder. "Look at this… it's the Gran Grimoire."

 "What?" the rest of the clan gathered around as Cid read down the page. "This is an ancient ritual… "Ceremony of the Seal"…"

  Cid's brow furrowed as he continued to read. "The ancient ones bestow the power upon this book that lies in thy hands. The Ceremony of the Seal, the ancient ritual passed down by generations upon generations of our ancestors, is the one leading path in etching in new eras in the fabrics of time…"

   "Etching new eras? Fabrics of time?" Montblanc whispered.

 "Those who desire to seal the world must be living in the previous reality. The ancient wishgrant Li-grim must be present, and if is not present and accounted for must have the blood of the murderer. The spirit the Li-grim had previously taken must also be present in order to begin… By rubbing the blood on the spirit or by wishing Li-grim to do so the two will combine and summon the time master Cronus. Through Cronus is one able to seal the world or beckon forth the dream world into reality, and leave reality behind…"

   Shara stepped back. "Oh my god… this… this is what Llednar is plotting…"

  Montblanc stared in horror. "Llednar… he wants to transform the world of Ivalice into reality!! He's going to destroy the real world!!"

**To Be Continued**