Chapter 8, Blood ties
Edgar had already lost himself in the twists and turns of the way. There had only been a few, but he had no chance to concentrate with his head feeling like a beehive. But finally Kefka stopped to open another door, and the prisoner king was brought into a darkened room and thrown on the floor a few steps inside.
'Dungeon?' he thought, confused since the ground beneath him felt like a soft carpet.
"Guard the door, I will not be disturbed, understood?" Kefka smirked somewhere in the dusk.
"Of course, lord Kefka," the soldiers obediently replied, and their steps left.
The door closed, without any echo. It didn't sound very heavy either, yet more signs of that it wasn't a dungeon.
"Now Edgar, my dear friend," Kefka sneered as his fingers snapped and the king let out a moan of pain, trying to cover his eyes as sharp light flowed the luxurious chamber, "I brought you here for one reason only."
Edgar couldn't hold back another tormented groan as he was violently ripped onto his knees in his hair and dragged deeper within the room. Kefka showed proof of being stronger than he looked.
"How do you like my decoration?" the warden asked, soft as silk.
The king blinked, trying to adjust his eyes to the light. Slowly the stars stopped dancing… but then he just wished they had continued to mock his sight.
His own brother motionlessly stared towards him with empty eyes, frozen in a desperate movement with his arms and legs spread as if he was trying to free himself from something. Just beside him was Setzer, locked in a similar move. His fine dark coat was torn, and the two men didn't overall look to be in any better shape than Edgar himself felt.
Neither did Gau, crouching by Sabin's other side in a leap, his long mane of a hair on end and his eyes wide open and wild with fear.
They were inside the wall, clearly seen as it seemed to be of glass. A couple of feet behind them was wall, the twisted exhibition was surely six feet thick.
"Safer than any prison," Kefka sneered as Edgar just got a choked hiss out of his dry throat, "and I get to amuse myself with their funny looks all day long. And now, my dear king…"
A hole opened in the glass, wide enough for a grown man. Kefka snapped his fingers again, and Edgar's chains fell off him. Not that he was in any state to escape, desperately scratching for the madman's fingers as Kefka grabbed his hair again.
"… Why don't you grant them your lovely company?"
"Son of a…" Edgar croaked, wildly staring at the hungry void in the enchanted glass.
The door suddenly clicked, the unsuspected sound cutting through the air.
"Didn't I say I wasn't to be disturbed?" Kefka snarled without turning.
"So you did," a completely new voice said with a deep sadness, "Kerr."
Edgar hit the floor, his head spinning from the impact.
"What!" Kefka roared, whipping around, "you!"
A piece of yellow cloth fell to the floor.
"Oh yes," Gogo said, bitterly meeting the burning gaze, "truly me, brother."
Edgar tried to get the world to make sense through the searing pain and confusion, failing miserably as a loud hissing from a magical lighting bolt, a heavy slam and half strangled cry of pain cut through his mind.
"I have no brother!" Kefka hissed through his teeth as the yellow, green and red heap slumped on the floor beside the closed entrance.
Gogo gritted his teeth but forced himself to sit up, locking eyes with his tormentor again.
"But I have one," he declared in a broken whisper.
"Fool! Fool, fool, fool!"
"Listen to me!"
"Shut up!"
The mimic left the floor and was slung diagonally across the room, crashing into the glass wall just beside the gaping hole. Once again he got sprawled over the carpet.
"You are a fool to be alive, and to come here!" Kefka snarled clawing at the air as he summoned more magic.
Gasping for air Gogo forced himself up on his arms.
'Concentrate…' he fiercely thought, 'I have to stop him or they'll…'
With a snarl he stumbled to his feet, his eyes following his brother's movements this time.
'Just like that…!'
His superbly trained mind clicked automatically and he mimicked the exact patter of hands, whispering the same incarnation even if he only saw the lips move without hearing. It was almost impossible, but he managed even if barely.
The flaring whips of lightning met in the middle of the room and sent both the combats stumbling backwards by the force.
"What the hell?" Kefka snarled, baring his teeth in his rage.
"A little trick I've learnt," Gogo grimly said, raising his hands in defense, "please, calm down and listen to me!"
Edgar would have been wondering about the stranger's knowledge of Kefka or his set of mind, if the king already hadn't been too shocked over the fact that the madman seemed to be battling himself.
"Listen to you!" Kefka spat, "you? You don't even exist!"
Gogo parried a fireball like he had done with the lightning, his soul crying in despair.
'All that is sacred, please give me just one chance!'
But the situation wouldn't offer another one.
Kefka was in the middle of a curse when a blond man silently and quickly slid up behind him without any notice. The end of a dagger's hilt slammed into the lord's head, with expertise earned through years of making sure guards stayed down.
"I'm sorry, Gogo," Clyde sadly said as Kefka fell with glazed eyes.
The mimic's hands fell and he shuddered as Clyde's relatives and Terra dived inside past the unconscious guards by the door.
"You guys…" Edgar harshly whispered and managed a faint smile as the green-haired woman fell down by his side, already muttering a healing spell.
"I know he was twisted but this is sick!" Relm cringed, helplessly knocking at the glass in front of the motionless Gau's face, "how will we get the out?"
"Let me see if I can figure it out," Strago said, walking up beside his granddaughter.
His voice gave away that he didn't really believe he would manage, however.
Pressing his forehead to the wall he tried to make something out of the spell that had created the exhibition.
"Managing something?" Edgar worriedly asked after a few moments, his voice much steadier than earlier.
In his worry for his brother and friends he completely forgot the second Kefka.
Terra helped him to stand and they all assembled before the wall.
"No, I can't figure it out…" the old man sighed in defeat and backed off, "anyone else?"
"Let me try…" Terra said, putting her hand on the wall.
They all jumped and spun around as the door clicked again.
But there were no soldiers there.
"Applause," Locke softly said with a wide grin at the scene.
He didn't wear the mask any longer, and the smile definitely told them of a difference from the Coliseum.
Things fell in place quite easily - though it was most surprising - as a blond woman showed up beside him, closing the door behind her.
"Celes!"
She only wore a dark green full body slip and looked thinner than they remembered her, but she smiled widely and threw the dagger aside as her friends rushed up to greet her with outmost relief.
"How did you survive?" Terra whispered, hugging her lost and found friend tightly.
"They wouldn't let me get away that easily," Celes said, anger darkening her eyes momentarily, "I've been here as the mock empress."
A heavy silence fell.
"No, I'm fine," she hurriedly said as he saw the same worry that Locke had showed her in her other friends' eyes.
Their fear washed away and they smiled again. Until the treasure hunter spoke, frowning.
"What the hell?"
Gogo looked away as he got the attention and stares from Celes and Edgar.
"Wait, it's not what it looks like," Clyde hurriedly said, "he's on our side, Kefka's twin brother!"
"Kefka's what!" Celes croaked.
"There's no time for explanations," Strago stated in a suddenly harsh voice, "we have to get the boys out of the wall and leave for the goddesses sake!"
The slap of reality was rather effective. In their happiness to see each other again the Returners had managed to forget the danger they still were in.
Terra rushed back to the wall and tried to resume her concentration.
"I know how it works!" Celes grimly said as she too hurried over to the exhibition, "I watched Sabin get locked inside that damn thing."
"Can you open it?" Edgar asked.
"No, I'm sorry," the magitek knight bitterly said and held up the armband, "I can't use magic with this thing on."
"Can't we release it somehow?" Clyde harshly asked.
"You'll have to solve this," Celes said and revealed the equation.
They all stared at it, helplessly.
That was, until Gogo pushed his way through.
"Let me see," he grimly said.
Celes hesitated for a moment but looking around at those who trusted the mimic she let him move up beside her and look at the lock.
"I'm not as good as Kerr, but… hmm…" Gogo muttered, bringing the armband closer so he could read properly.
After a moment he joylessly chuckled.
"Oh, this one," he bitterly smiled, "typically him… X is the same as thirty-seven."
With a soft clicking the armband fell off and thumped into the mimic's hand.
"He was quite proud of that one…" he muttered, more to himself than anything else.
For a moment Celes just stared at him, holding her freed wrist. Then a gentle push from Terra urged her to the wall.
Closing her eyes in concentration she put her hands against the glass and began muttering the spell that she hoped would work. Kefka had just waved with his hands as the wall obeyed him already, but magic using always left a trace that the trained one could follow.
Gogo stood still, absentmindedly watching the accessory in his hands. The other Returners chose to leave him alone and focused on the blond woman.
After a few more seconds she took in a deep breath and slowly released it, spreading her fingers wide.
"Open," she commanded.
The glass swirled.
"Of a bitch!" Sabin croaked in an unsteady voice as he fell out but got caught by friends' hands.
He blinked up at the smiling faces, his own a picture of relief.
"You?" he said, his voice barely holding as Edgar caught him in a tight hug.
"Hey bro," the king thickly said.
Gogo turned away, crossing the floor. He just couldn't share the happiness right then, seeing the twins.
"Open," Celes demanded again.
With a desperate growl Gau thumped down on the rounded floor in the glass cave that opened around him. He got up on his knees and hands, confusedly shaking his head. Then he spotted his friends and leaped out with a howl of joy, catching the nearest person – who happened to be Relm – in a hug.
"Open."
"Creep, Kefka!" Setzer snarled as he stumbled and looked up in surprise, "what?"
"It's alright now," Locke said with a smile, reaching in to help the albino get out.
"How long were we in there?" Sabin asked, giving Celes a thankful hug for getting him out.
"I don't know about Setzer and Gau," she said, "but you got captured about one month ago."
"That long?" the body builder confusedly said.
"How did you get here?" the white haired one asked, smiling widely and hugging Terra.
"We'll tell you later, it's not safe here," Locke grimly said, "but what about Kefka?"
They all turned, finding Gogo standing by his brother's side, sadly watching the unconscious form.
"What the…" Sabin snarled as Gau growled and Setzer flinched in surprise.
"It's his twin brother," Relm quickly said, "he's helping us!"
"But what about him?" Edgar snarled, pointing at the fallen.
The answer seemed quite obvious, but Gogo's head snapped up and he whipped around to face his allies, spreading his arms protectively.
"No!"
"Gogo, we can't do anything for him!" Strago snarled, "and he's going to hunt us down if we let him…"
"You can't!" the mimic desperately pleaded, "what are you, butchers?"
"He's too dangerous, Gogo!" Clyde sadly said, though he did understand the point about killing a - momentarily - helpless man.
The twin of the madman resolutely shook his head.
"I know he's a psychopath, I know he's dangerous," he said in a hoarse voice, "but he's my brother. I can't let you kill him like this, I'm sorry."
"Oh for the love of…!"
Strago caught himself, glaring back at Gogo's grayish, determined eyes.
"Will you cut his throat when he can't defend himself?" the gaze silently asked.
With an inner snarl the old man had to face that he wasn't prepared to go through with such a dirty thing. It was too much what… Kefka gladly would do.
"Bloody hell, we have to get out of here!" the old man cursed and turned to hurry towards the door.
As one of them made a decision the other found themselves complying, though it was with just as much hesitation and knowledge that they most certainly would regret letting the madman live.
Clyde looked around as he was about to leave. The others were already running down the corridor.
Gogo had only lowered his arms, otherwise he hadn't moved.
"You can't be serious!" the ex-ninja harshly said.
"Go, I'll be alright," Gogo promised with a weak smile, holding up the armband, "I think I can figure out how to change the password on this and stall things here. Don't worry about me."
"But even so, Gestahl…!"
"Get out of here before he comes!" the mimic commanded, resolutely pointing at the exit, "go!"
Clyde hesitated, noticing the dagger that Celes had dropped on the floor. Swiftly picking it up he rushed back to his old friend and pushed the weapon into his hand.
"At least take this," Relm's father grimly said, "and be careful."
Gogo gravely nodded.
"Take care, all of you," he said.
Clyde tried to force a smile of encouragement, but failed and quickly turned to flee after his friends.
The mimic looked down at what he held and surpassed the dagger to a pocket in his robe. After watching the armband for a while he shook his head and sent it the same way. Even if he would manage to change the code there was no chance he'd think of something that Kerr wouldn't solve if given just a moment's focus.
But even as he hid things in pockets, his mind never did catch up with the fact that he had forgotten something very, very important…
