This is one of my favorite chapters in the story. (I think I said that in the beginning of the last chapter, but yeah, I'm being repetitive, whatever) I loved this part in the game, so yay. I'm glad this chapter turned out the way that I wanted it to, and to be honest, I hardly had to do any editing on it. (That's a very rare occurrence!) Okay, bye!

14. A Familiar Face

Locke quickly walked through the secret passage under South Figaro and walked up the stairs to another door. He put his hand on the handle and twisted, finding himself in a rather small room. This must've been the servants area…He concluded as he looked around. There didn't seem to be any guards around, so he walked onto the wooden floor and shut the door.

As nonchalantly as he could, he made his way around the house, pretending to sell things since he was still in his merchant costume. There were so many soldiers throughout the house that Locke was amazed. South Figaro was now in complete control of the Empire and it only took less than 24 hours. How long is it going to be before Gestahl has the entire world in the palm of his hand?

"The Imperial Troops have turned this house into their headquarters." Locke slightly jumped when he heard a female voice in his direction, and saw that it was one of the servants talking him.

"I'm sorry?" He asked as she sighed.

"I can tell by the way that you're looking around that you're in shock. In all honesty, we feel the same way. It just happened so quickly," she continued as she gestured around the room. Her tone was heavy with disbelief as she spoke. "Look at them all, acting as if they own the place."

"They pretty much do," Locke replied sadly, emitting another sigh from her lips. He put his hand on her arm and smiled at her to boost her confidence. "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will work out. I gotta get back to my rounds though, I have a lot of things to sell!"

"Good luck," she said to him as he waved and walked out of the room.

He walked into a small room, which looked like the nursery. There was a soldier who must've been given orders to watch the two children in there, and it looked as though he was about to jump out the nearest window. The look of desperation in his eyes made Locke chuckle.

"Do you have anything that will kill these two kids?" He asked frantically as Locke blinked blankly. He grabbed Locke by the shoulders, causing him to lean back slightly. "Okay, maybe killing is too strong. Maim! I can settle for maim! Anything!"

The little boy walked up to the soldier, tugged on his arm, and said, "Chung chung….Chung chung…Magitek Armor! Hey, mister, can I ride in your Magitek Armor thing? I'll be really, really careful! I promise! Pretty, pretty, pretty please?"

The soldier looked at Locke with a look that said, 'see what I mean?' then slightly pushed the little boy to the side. The little girl was hopping around the room and stopped when she noticed Locke. She ran up to him and sang, "Wind the clock! Wind the clock!"

"Huh?" Locke asked as she jumped around him in a big circle. Watching her was making him dizzy, so he put his hand on her head to stop her.

"Uh, that was just a jump rope rhyme," she exclaimed quickly as she ran back to the other side of the room to hop around some more. The little boy ran over to his sister and started to imitate her jumping.

"Rascals! Knock it off!" The soldier cried out as he saw the objects on the walls start to shake. About half a second later, a picture frame fell off the wall and broke into a thousand pieces, causing both of the children to stop what they were doing to start crying and screaming. With a groan, the soldier looked up at the ceiling then screamed, "I never want kids!"

"Okay, this is my cue to leave," Locke whispered as he left the soldier in charge of the two children. He almost felt sorry for the soldier, but then only chuckled when he realized that it was a good start for punishment for a member of the Imperial Troops.

After walking around the house some more, he saw a door that was slightly ajar. Normally it wouldn't have caught Locke's attention, but he heard a loud crash coming from inside. He walked up to the door and tried to see what was inside without opening it more.

There was a man sitting at a table with his head in his hands and he was trying to write a letter. Locke wasn't sure what the crash was, but after scanning the room, he could see what used to be a beautiful vase on the floor; the man must've grabbed it and thrown it against the wall, causing it to shatter.

"Oh, what have I done?" He cried out as he shook his head and dipped his pen into the inkwell to continue writing the letter he had started. "I betrayed the town and I didn't even need the money!"

It's him! Locke gasped as he moved out of the door frame. So I guess since Kefka didn't discover Terra at Figaro Castle, the Empire took over South Figaro. Edgar is going to love to hear what kind of citizens he has in his kingdom…

With a sigh, he made his way into another room where several soldiers were standing around, and a young woman was sitting on the bed reading a book. The room was slightly cooler than the rest of the house, resulting in Locke breaking out into goosebumps. She looked up from her reading and threw her book down next to her when she saw him.

"Finally!" She exclaimed as she walked over to him. "I thought you'd never get here!"

Locke looked around, confused that she was talking to him then pointed to himself. "Uh, me?"

"Yes, you!" She said happily as she looked at the clock that hung on the wall. She slightly frowned when she looked at him again and placed her hands on her hips. "However, I thought that you would've been here quite a long time ago."

"I'm sorry?" He said as he rose his shoulders, not sure what he was even apologizing for.

"The draft is coming from over there." She pointed to her left and Locke followed her fingers with her eyes. "I'm not sure what's causing it, but it's making this room miserable. Please fix it as soon as you can!"

"B-But, I'm not a repairman," he tried to explain as she clapped her hands toward the soldiers.

"Come on, boys," she shouted as they all turned her way. "Let's give the man some space to work." With a few grumbles and complaints from the soldiers, they all started to leave the room. The young woman turned toward Locke again and said, "Thanks so much. I'll be downstairs if you need me, okay? Just let us know when it's fixed!"

She left, leaving Locke dumbfounded. "She didn't hear a damn word I just said," he mumbled as he shrugged and walked toward the back wall. There was a bookshelf in the way, but he could tell that the source of the draft was coming from behind it. Straining slightly, he pushed the bookshelf and noticed that there was a door. The other secret entrance! Finally I get the hell out of here!

After pushing the bookshelf completely out of the way, he opened the door and walked down the steps. He figured he didn't need to look like a merchant anymore, so he stripped back down to his normal clothes. "Wow, I feel human again," he said as he rubbed his arms with his hands.

He continued to walk through the secret passageway, but stopped when he heard some commotion through a door. Standing on his tip toes, he looked through the bars in the door to see what was going on.

There were two guards in the room and a young woman was chained to the wall. She had blonde hair that was now tousled, and the frightened look in her eyes said a thousand words. Locke went back down on his feet and turned away from the door in thought.

"I've seen her before…" As quickly as his mind would work, he tried the think of how he knew her. Her appearance was striking enough that he was able to remember who she was quickly. "Of course! She's one of the Empire's generals!" He went back on his toes to listen to their conversation.

One of the soldiers, the taller one, repeatedly struck at her as the other soldier watched and laughed. "This's what happens to traitors!" He said as the young woman let out a cry in pain.

"So the mighty Celes has fallen!" The other guard taunted with a laugh, causing Locke to gasp.

"Celes!" He cried under his breath as the name rang a bell in his head. He shook his head as he exhaled. "Oh shit…" He didn't realize that he had spoken out loud until the guards started to look his way. Luckily, he turned away just in time.

"Did you hear something?" The first guard said as the other guard mumbled something that was inaudible. "You didn't? Huh. I guess I'm hearing things."

"Maybe it was your conscience," the girl said weakly, giving the soldiers another reason to beat her.

"Did I ask you to talk? No!" The shorter guard said as he struck her in the stomach with all of his might. She whimpered, causing him to laugh at her. "I never thought I'd see the day when General Celes would be chained up to a wall!"

"Well, I don't know about that one," the taller soldier jeered as he nudged the other soldier in the shoulder. "From what I've heard from Leo, I wouldn't be surprised if—"

She bowed her head in embarrassment and interrupted, "How can you serve those cowards…"

"Hold your tongue!" The shorter soldier spat. "Your flapping tongue is the thing that got you into this mess in the first place! You would think you would've learned your lesson."

"Isn't it true Kefka's going to poison the people of Doma to the east?" She asked, her voice weak and wavering. The other soldiers' response was only to laugh, Celes' eyes opening wider. "So it is true. How can you sit back and do nothing?"

"Shuddap!" The shorter soldier snapped as he delivered a strong blow to her ribs, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to collapse. Both soldiers burst out into laughter again and the shorter soldier said, "I'd hate to be in your shoes tomorrow!"

The soldier started to walk out of the room, and Locke panicked. Uh oh! He looked up above him and saw a support beam that was in jumping distance. As quickly as he could, he jumped and grabbed on. He swung himself around so he could climb on top of it and remain unseen.

Holding on was a difficult task, and he was becoming impatient when the soldier didn't exit the room right away. He could hear them talking, but their voices were too deep for him to make anything out. All he heard was, "I can go for days without sleep!"

The shorter soldier exited the room and once he was out of sight, Locke carefully jumped down from the ceiling. He brushed the dirt and dust off of his clothes and looked inside the room. The other soldier was already fast asleep. "Days without sleep, my ass," Locke muttered as he shook his head and walked over to Celes.

He searched his pockets for his collection of lock picks, and when he found them, he quickly removed Celes' chains. She fell to the floor with a gasp and Locke slowly helped her get to her knees.

"I thought you were unconscious," he started as she put one of her hands around her other wrist and rubbed the spot where the chains were.

"I'm a good actress," she said with a weak smile. "But then again, I've worked for the Empire for so long that lying and acting just became a way of life."

"Well, you had me fooled, so high marks." He helped her to her feet and she stood on wobbly legs.

"And you are…" He started to walk away out of the room, but with the sound of her voice he looked back over his shoulder. "You look very familiar."

"I get that a lot. I just have one of those familiar faces, I guess," he stated with a smirk. "However, I'm with the Returners." She studied him, but he knew that she couldn't remember where she had seen him before, and he wasn't about to bring up the situation with her yet. "Name's Locke."

"Returners!" She exclaimed as he turned around to face her. "Wow, I've heard rumors about the Returners, but I wasn't sure if they were real or not…"

"Of course the Returners are real," he replied as he walked up to her. "There are a lot more of us than you would think, too. That's the funny thing about all of this. More people hate the Empire than like them. A lot of people just pretend that they're all for the Empire so they don't get sentenced to a painful death."

"I understand that now." She looked down at her feet and twirled a tendril of hair around her finger. "I used to be General Celes…Now I'm just a common traitor…"

There was silence between the two of them for a moment, so Locke started to walk toward the door. "Okay, let's go!"

"What? You'd take me along?" She exclaimed as she whipped her head up at him. After a second, she shook her head. "Thanks, but, uh, no thanks."

"Why not?"

"For one thing, I can barely walk…" To prove her point, she took a few wobbly steps in his direction. She didn't fall like Locke thought she would, but she still stopped in her tracks and shook her head again. "I'm grateful, but…Even if you got me out of here, you'd never be able to protect me."

Again, Locke asked, "Why not?"

"If I escape now, the entire Imperial army will be out looking for me," she bowed her head and looked off to the side. "This kind of thing happened several years ago with a different general. He was…an incredible fighter, amazing with battle logic and strategy…he was a vital asset to the Empire. When he turned traitor, it took us years to hunt him down."

I know…Locke thought, his turn to bow his head again. "What, um, what happened to the man?"

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly with a slight chuckle. Before he was able to ask her more about it, she began to speak. "Anyway, you're very kind and I appreciate the offer, but I'm going to have to decline. I think I'm better off here."

"I'll protect you!" He blurted without thinking. She turned toward him and blinked a few times in surprise. "Trust me! You'll be fine!" With a wink, he gestured toward the door again. "Come on, let's go!"

He started to take the initiative to leave, hoping that she would follow him, but she stopped him. "Wait."

"What is it?" He looked over his shoulder as she walked up to the sleeping soldier.

"This soldier has something important on him…" she replied as she reached into the soldier's pocket and grabbed something that was small and shiny. Holding it up, she explained, "It's a key of some kind. It's not a key used for a door though, it's not the right shape. So, I'm not sure what it's to, but I overheard the two soldiers discussing it."

"Well, it definitely doesn't hurt to take it with us," he said with a shrug. "Now, let's get gone."

"Right." She walked through the door with Locke close behind her and they started to walk through the secret passage.

"Do you know your way around here?" He asked as she shook her head. "Damn. I guess we'll just have to blindly walk through here and hope we don't run into any soldiers. Oooh. This is going to sound like an odd question, but—"

"I'm armed," she replied as she patted the sword that was attached to her hip. "The soldiers weren't intelligent enough to unarm me before they tied me up."

"Ya know, it's funny; the more I see of the Imperial Troops, the more I'm surprised at how stupid the whole lot of them are." Locke opened another door for Celes and they entered a room that looked like it might have been a storage room at one point. Old boxes and crates were stacked up along the walls with other random objects that were forgotten throughout the years.

"They're not all that bad," she said, slightly defensive. Locke decided not to challenge her with the truth, so he walked around the corner and slightly groaned. "What is it?"

She walked over to him to see what the problem was. "There's no way out," he pointed out as he pushed against the brick wall. "It's solid. Damn it. I guess this means we'll just have to find another way. Maybe we took a wrong turn or something."

"What's this?" Locke craned his head around the wall to see what it was she was investigating.

"It's an old clock. It's not ticking…" he said, stating the obvious. He ran his finger on the top of the wood and thousands of dust bunnies came fluttering down, making both he and Celes cough. "By the looks of the seven inches of dust on the top, I'm guessing that it hasn't worked in quite a long time. I'm starting to wonder if the guy that owns this place even remembers that this stuff is down here."

Celes reached into her pocket and pulled out the key that she grabbed from the soldier. "Wind the clock?"

"Hmm, it looks like it'll fit," Locke stated as she handed him the key. He looked at the key and the hole in the face of the clock, then looked back up at Celes. "However, no one is even down here to hear it tick, so what's the point?"

"I just have a hunch."

"A hunch?" He asked her as she nodded. "Heh, you sound like me."

"So, wind it already," she said, impatient that he was simply staring at the key in his hand. Wait a second here…He thought as he felt his brain work. When the right thought popped into his head, he gasped. "What is it?"

"Wind the clock!"

"Yeah, I know, that's what I just said," she stated with a laugh as she saw the look of shock on his face.

"No, the little girl in the house told me to wind the clock, then when I asked her about it, she told me it was only a jump rope rhyme," He muttered as he further inspected the key. "I wonder if she really knew…"

Celes shrugged at him as he put the key in the hole and twisted. There was a loud noise and they exchanged a nervous glance. Locke made his way around the corner first and when it was safe, he waved her over to him.

"Hey, check that out, it's a door!"

"Yep, look at that," he replied as he opened the door for her and let her go in first. They climbed the staircase and when they reached the landing, Celes stopped again. "What is it?"

"Locke, why are you helping me?"

"You remind me of someone…" He trailed off and looked at his feet. Her smile…her voice…it's like she's her in another body…With a sharp inhale, he shook away his thoughts and moved his glance back up at Celes. "But what's it matter, anyway? I just want to, okay?"

"O…kay…" Celes said slowly, shocked at his tone. Locke prayed that she wouldn't ask him more details, and thankfully she didn't.

"We're home free now. We just need to get to Narshe," he informed her as they left South Figaro.

With a gasp, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her voice was frantic as she asked, "Narshe? Why Narshe? What's in Narshe?"

"The rest of the Returners," he explained calmly as he watched the color drain from her face. "What is it, Celes?"

"We have to get there," she said as she broke out into a run in that direction. "Now!"

"What? Why?" He asked as he picked up his speed to catch up with her. She didn't answer him right away, so he felt his heart skip a beat. "Celes! What's going on?"

"We have to warn everyone in that city that the Empire is headed in that direction as we speak!"

"What?" Locke cried out as he caught up to her. "How do you know?"

"Kefka's after that frozen Esper! He'll kill anyone that will stand in his way!" Locke grabbed Celes by the arm to stop her so he could look at her in the eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Are you telling me everything?" He snapped as they stopped and he glared at her in the eyes. "Why did they claim you were a traitor?"

"Don't you trust me?" She asked as he studied her. "Locke, please, there's no time for this!"

"Just tell me, Celes!" He demanded as she looked up to the sky and sighed.

"I…was snooping around our headquarters when we were set up in Jidoor and accidentally overheard Kefka talking about poisoning the kingdom of Doma. When I confronted him about it, he twisted my words around," she explained as she gritted her teeth. "He grabbed me and brought me to see the Emperor and told him that he overheard me talking about an assassination so I would be in charge of the Imperial army. It was a lie, Locke! Kefka is plotting a massacre! Thousands of people are going to die and I couldn't let it slide by!"

"Why did Gestahl believe Kefka over you?" Locke questioned as Celes shook her head.

Pain washed over her face as she looked Locke in the eyes and said quietly, "Kefka has filled his head with thoughts of power, but is only planning to use the power for himself, that's why. Kefka wants to rule the world and I won't let it happen as long as I'm living. Emperor Gestahl's not the same man that he was 10 years ago. Let me join the Returners, Locke. I'm begging you."

"Wow." That was the only word that would escape Locke's lips for he was surprised at how much information she spilled about the Empire. Kefka…trying to take over the world… "Of course you can join the Returners. Just explain everything that you told me to Banon, our mentor. You just gave me a hell of a lot of insight from behind the closed walls of the Empire."

"Well, no time to dwell on it now," she said as she started to briskly walk toward Narshe. "We have to warn everyone before it's too late."

Damn…Locke thought as he jogged to catch up to her. What is this world coming to…