Chapter 28, Impossible diplomacy
Siren winced as she listened to the torn pieces of thoughts that now stormed around her bubble. She could only make out a little from the howling choir, but what she heard was less than calming.
'Damn you damn you damn you no rival no rival nobody NOBODY kill! KILL HIM!'
"By Goddess..." Siren croaked, raising the harp with hands shaking almost as much as the dark landscape.
But as soon as touched the strings, the ground beneath her cracked and several pitch-black tentacles shot up from the stone, slamming into the protective bubble and sticking onto it. The shake threw the esper off balance and she fell to one knee, the dangerously creaking sound of the delicate walls around her ringing in her ears.
"Oh no...!" the esper hissed and leapt to her feet, clutching the harp against her chest.
She had to get out of the cracking mind, and now. Kerr's storming rage had worked far better than any cold logic ever could have with him; found a way to use the anchor against her. Now he might be able to feel - even if vaguely and for now rather unable to read the signs on a higher level than instinctual - every assault she could try just before she attempted it. And counter. This theory was painfully proven as Siren's palm hit the bubble's wall. Instead of popping open to let her out so that she'd be able to flee back to her magicite, the transparent surface flashed into a sickly shade of green that spread out from the dark tentacles.
With a shocked mix of a gasp and shriek the esper slammed her fist into the wall, but only gained a throbbing pain that shot up through her entire arm and sent her stumbling as far backwards as the rounded space allowed.
She was trapped.
"Kerr! Stop!" she shouted in pure desperation, trying to get back on her feet, "you're letting Gestahl control you!"
A thunderclap tore through the racing sky far above and for a brief moment Kerr's blue ghost of an avatar flicked past in the violent flash. His teeth were bared in a murderous growl, the red blaze covering his eyes completely. Siren reeled backwards, slipping on the smooth surface of her prison and with a desperate cry barely managing to avoid crashing down again.
And then he was gone once more.
'I'll deal with you later!' the winds howled before descending into the boiling witch-brew of ripped sentences.
Siren cringed violently, her legs loosing all will to carry her any longer. She sunk down on the bottom of the bubble, wildly running a hand through her hair as cold sweat broke through her skin.
What would Gogo do! He was the only one who possibly knew how to calm this rabid monster!
Gogo...
"Kerr!" Siren hollered, pressing a palm against the greenish wall between two tentacles, "who means the most to you, that old fool that you're forced to serve or your brother!"
The reply shook her prison so violently that her rattling jaw nearly smashed all of her teeth.
'Me!'
Groaning in pain the esper crawled back up in a kneeling position, pressing both hands to her face as she struggled to regain orientation. But as she forcefully closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the throbbing of her every nerve, she saw a flash of the dark underside of the wardrobe where her magicite laid. Sucking in her breath she clenched her hands into fists and tried to focus her will on that disappearing vision. Maybe, maybe...
It returned to her, the dusk surrounding the magic rock. And seen in the narrow opening towards the rest of the room, Gogo's still form on the floor. Siren bit down on her lower lip and reached out, trying to pull herself towards that point, away from the magical cage.
And hit a wall.
She almost broke down sobbing with anguish. There was no escape...
And as she still clutched that contact with her magicite, she noticed a distant glow behind the mimic's leg. From the door. Kerr had reached his room.
"No!"
She struggled to stand, loosing her grip of the harp. It miserably clattered against the glassy floor.
"Kerr, stop!"
The door opened and slammed shut, she saw the movement of it though she could hear no sound.
'DAMN YOU!'
Clawing at her own cheeks as she desperately tried to come up with something, anything that could stop the psychopath, Siren had to wrestle down a cry of anguish. In her own frothing mind she could find no rescue for her helpless friend-
'Helpless...' flashed back through her mind.
Her neck straightened up almost violently.
'Please... please...'
"Do you know what his last thought was?" she shouted, voice breaking as she continued, "he thought 'We're dead, brother' before Gestahl attacked him! He was more worried about you!"
She felt no change, only saw Kerr's feet moving closer across the floor. With a screech she slammed her palms into the greenish floor before her knees.
"Kerr, please!" she screamed, fully aware that no prayers ever had made it through to this sadist, "Kefka, stop it!"
'Damn you damn you Gestahl!'
Siren snapped upwards with a startled gasp.
Shivering from head to toe she raised her gaze and stared upwards at the swirling clouds, which turned a strange brown hue due to the green ceiling. Slowly and with unsteady rips they began to slow down. The earthquake around the bubble rumbled on, but it also started to die out.
'Nobody nobody no rival nobody can have him!'
As the violent noises settled she could hear Kerr's ragged breath and the pained groan he let out as he fell to his knees by Gogo's fallen form.
'God, my head...' was the thought that finalized the peace.
And relative stillness returned to his soulscape, the distant waves taking over the scene of sounds.
One of Siren's hands came to her chest and pressed against the alien feeling of a thundering heart, the racing blood - that by laws of physics shouldn't even exist in her - accompanied by the trembling breaths sucked into and fleeing her lungs.
As she turned her inner sight back to the position of her magicite, she vaguely saw a gentle bluish light flowing over Gogo's body, doubtlessly from Kerr's hands.
"Was that what you planned all along?" she whispered without thinking, definitely not meaning for him to hear it.
'I don't know... I don't know,' the landscape idly murmured, trying to sound chilly but failing badly.
Gogo groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
His world swam for several moments but a pleasant warmth was washing through his veins and fighting the blur. At first he couldn't remember anything, and the sight of Kerr's more than normally pale face staring down at him with a dark expression just confused him.
"Bro...?" he croaked, disoriented.
Then he gasped as a hand came down on his chest suddenly, knocking the delicate wind out of him but sending a forceful, and at the same time tender stream of healing powers into his very bones.
He could have sworn that he heard Kerr mutter something that sounded like "mine!" as the older of the two reached down below the younger's shoulders and helped the mimic sit up.
And unpleasant memories flared back down into Gogo's brain as he heavily leant against his twin. He winced.
"Gestahl..."
"Yeah. Nice work, you blockhead," Kerr bluntly said.
Gogo hesitantly met his brother's gaze.
"Now I have to kill you," the lord of the empire said.
Siren cringed. Gogo blinked, opening his mouth to speak.
But Kerr almost gently pressed the fingers of his left hand against his brother's lips before any sound made it out, smirking tiredly.
"Silly little Kefka. Thought I meant it, didn't you?"
Gogo slumped, not that he had been able to tense much considering his state.
"Bro," he croaked, "don't make jokes like that after I just went through a near death experience, thank you."
"Oh fine... now..."
Kerr's eyebrows furrowed and the smirk died.
"Where is that magicite?" he demanded in a much colder voice than a moment ago.
Gogo froze while Siren slumped to the bottom of her prison, closing her eyes tightly.
"What?" the mimic harshly whispered.
"Kefka. There is an esper. Inside. My. Head."
Kerr sternly scowled at his brother's uncomfortably shifting eyes.
"I know they can't try to possess a person without direct contact, don't you think some tried when I held magicite in the past?" he snapped, "now where is she?"
Siren couldn't see the faces anymore, but she could hear fully well what was said. The strings of her harp would leave markings on her chest after this clutching.
Gogo took in a deep breath.
"And what," he croaked, "will you do with her if I tell you?"
Kerr's glare could probably have set fire on a piece of paper, and his unnaturally strong fingers were tightening rather painfully on Gogo's shoulder. But in this, the mimic refused to yield even if his mind began to spin with new pain after only a couple of seconds.
"I warn you Kefka, don't try my patience right now. I'm not in a good mood."
Siren heard from the mimic's new deep breath what he would answer. Prepared to face the repercussions.
No.
With a tight lump in her chest she let her head drop.
"Leave him be," she bitterly grunted, "I'm under the wardrobe."
Gogo almost jumped as Kerr's painful grip suddenly loosened. His quizzical state of mind was however sent plummeting together with his heart as he watched his brother turn around and reach out his hands towards the piece of furniture that had protected the mimic a few times. But the hand pointed more towards the floor.
"Kerr..." came a broken whisper between the dry lips.
No reaction.
Siren tried to swallow to get rid of the sandy feeling that had conquered her mouth and throat, but the moving muscles just set themselves on fire. She tried to look away but it seemed as if her inner eye suddenly was locked on watching through her magicite. Her magicite, her remains, her body that helplessly slipped out of hiding and then rose above the floor to zoom towards Kerr's unforgiving hand.
She cowered with a half-strangled gasp one moment before the filthy impact.
It never came.
Kerr flicked his fingers and the magical rock flew over his hand, landing in Gogo's surprised, weak grip. Astonished, Siren straightened up in her prison and stared at the black world that spread out around her.
The creepy mind avatar of the madman flashed into existence before her and again she backed, hesitantly.
He reached out, placing his palm against the green wall.
With a popping sound the bubble broke and the tentacles fell to melt into the black ground. Still shaking a bit, Siren took a step forwards while the avatar faded away.
"Is everybody satisfied, then?" Kerr sarcastically said, but not angrily anymore.
He smirked in amusement at the face before him and the expression he could feel on the esper's features.
"We have to get you out of here now."
Silence ruled for a moment while Siren floated out of the dark world and dove into the warm embrace of her magicite, its softly green surfaces gently caressing her aching mind with its familiarity. In there she "turned over on her back" and tiredly looked up at the twins. Gogo was watching his brother with disbelief.
"Get us out?" the mimic finally said, "it would have been hard enough before Gestahl found me here."
Kerr shrugged.
"The best bet would be to dress you up as me and just walk away at any given chance," he loosely said.
He huffed, thoughtfully.
"On the other hand you'd be killed by the first chicken laying eyes on you outside."
"What I rather wonder about is what would happen to you when Gestahl finds out that I'm gone," Gogo grimly said, frowning.
"Both of you are going to make me sick one of these minutes," Kerr sighed, rolling his eyes.
But then he placed his cheek idly on his fist.
"Though he would probably want to see a body if I claimed I killed you, and an illusion wouldn't work. Bloody notion."
'Can't exactly blame him for that, sad as it is,' Siren muttered, heard by both the brothers.
"Now is really not a good time to start leaning onto other sides, esper," Kerr grunted with a dry leer.
'Don't you get me started on that,' she snorted back, 'which side are you really on?'
"Mine."
'Figures.'
Kerr chuckled slightly, then noticed the look on his brother's face.
"What?" the older of the two said.
"Am I missing something here?" Gogo deadpanned.
"Oh no, we've just evolved our sweet little relationship ever since she barged into my head trying to turn my soul inside out while squealing 'your brother is in danger'," Kerr informed in a stupidly high-pitched voice, entwining his fingers into a platform and dumping his chin on it while glancing down at the magicite, "makes you nostalgic doesn't it, you little striptease dancer?"
"Striptease dancer?" the mimic blankly repeated with raised eyebrows while Siren's eyes darkened in frustration.
"Haven't you seen her, bro?" Kerr smirked, his lips twitching madly, "they pay a lot for such 'ladies' in Zozo."
There was a limit. And this was it.
The harp's strings shivered violently and the grin turned into a grimace as the insane lord's hands flew to his forehead.
"Brother?" Gogo exclaimed, reaching out with his free hand.
But Kerr waved the fingers aside, still pulling a constricted face.
"Oh, just the little lady trying to act like a nanny," the older twin snarled and then shook his head, straightening up with a somewhat calmer look again.
'You'll get worse than a headache next time, mark my words you idiot!' Siren snapped.
Gogo quickly hid her magicite behind his back, catching his brother's forehead with his other palm.
"Kerr, calm down!"
"Don't be such a wimp! I won't hurt her... much!"
"Please, brother, we don't have time for this!"
"You're forgetting what you're talking about with whom!"
But somehow, though a good part of her wanted to duck and cower, the more amused than homicidal smirk on Kerr's lips kept Siren from being overwhelmed by fear. And it seemed that Gogo felt the same.
"Come on, take this later you buffoon!" he tried with a strained voice due to the power needed to hold his brother back, "I still don't even know why Gestahl came here and blasted me across half the room!"
Kerr let the arms fall with a roll of his eyes and sat back.
"You're just a bore," he grunted while his brother and Siren breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry," the mimic grunted, "but now please tell me what the hell is going on here tonight."
The lord shrugged.
"Not too complicated," he said, "there's a riot in Maranda, apparently some of the Returners snuck in and freed the prisoners. They're probably on their way to Figaro by now on whatever ship they snuck up to the coast with, but we're heading down there anyway to see if there's anything to be done. But the prisoners were running westward according to the last report, they're surely long gone from land by now."
Gogo opened his mouth but forgot what he had been about to ask as another thought struck him like lightning.
"Kerr..." he said, "from which direction is the floating continent heading towards Maranda?"
Siren sucked in her non-existent breath as she realized what he was thinking. It appeared that Kerr didn't though, as he calmly tilted his head while he thought.
"Oh, let's see... we went from dispatching more troops in Narshe, Nikeah and South Figaro after circling the desert for signs of the castle, then headed to Jidoor to stock up on tributes... from the west and heading south east then."
He paused, then smirked as a realization plopped up.
"Oh, I see. But the whole army is afoot around all the exits by now, I'm afraid. You won't be able to hitch-hike."
"That wasn't what I thought about!" Gogo exclaimed, grabbing his brother's shoulder in a wave of panic, "what time is it!"
Kerr raised a disdainful eyebrow, but suddenly sobered a little bit. And then smirked even wider.
"Past dawn. If they're on a ship towards the north..."
"... They're almost guaranteed to be seen!" Gogo hissed.
"Yeah, the coast will soon be crawling with our ships from the docks belonging to original Vector, too. How very delightful."
"Kerr!"
The madman rolled his eyes dramatically at his brother's shout, with a grunt grabbing Gogo's wrist and ripping the hand away from his shoulder.
"Alright, alright, I hear you," the older one snorted, "but it's not like I'd help them even if I could."
'If I had the power, I could try to reach Maduin,' Siren growled, looking up at Gogo though none of the men would know that, 'if Terra is among the Returners that came to save the prisoners, he will be able to speak with her.'
"Even so, what if she doesn't have his magicite?" the mimic questioned, not daring to let his hope bloom so easily.
'It doesn't matter, ever since it was established their bond has been strong enough to cross any distance.'
Siren shook her head.
'But I'd need quite some help to even hope searching for him, we don't even know if he's in Figaro castle or closer by. If that is of no help I'll search for any of the other espers, hopefully the Returners brought at least one piece of magicite on the mission. But Maduin is the strongest of the free, he would be the easiest to find... if I could.'
She pressed her hand against her face with a groan, wondering just what in all hells she was doing.
Gogo looked up from watching the dancing flame within the stone he held and met his brother's eyes.
"Kerr..."
"Forget it," the lord huffed, crossing his arms and shaking his head, "what do you think I am, a goodie two-shoes boy scout? Think of something better, little one."
The mimic's eyes grew thin.
"Because of you I spent twenty good years a gigantic worm's stomach," he spoke in a calm, dangerous voice, "you owe me this much for that."
Kerr glared.
"I lived in constant vigilance because of the monsters down there," Gogo added, resolutely.
Kerr glared.
"Didn't sleep a full night during all that time because of those beasts."
Kerr glared.
"Lived basically on raw, sun-starved vegetables."
Kerr glared.
"It was really damn boring."
Kerr sighed.
Setting his sights on his own eyebrows and eyelids which shivered scornfully with the sigh, he held up his palm.
"Oh what the hell... gimme."
"All well, Siren?" Gogo wondered, slowly raising his hand with the fingers curled around the smooth surface of her magicite.
'Can't be much worse than dying, I think,' she sarcastically grunted to mask her twisting disgust, 'drop it.'
She cringed as her remains landed in Kerr's palm. She couldn't feel anything through the magicite due to the lack of nerves, but the mere idea of resting in the murderer's grip made her feel mentally nauseous.
"There's no chance that anybody that shouldn't do so can hear this, I presume?" Kerr somewhat dryly said as he raised the magicite to the height of his chest and added his other hand to the hold.
'I'll be trying to set off straight towards Maduin,' Siren grunted, 'it's impossible for others to notice that. Unless I crash into their minds, but I have better knowledge of heads than to do that.'
"How fantastically comforting," Kerr sneered.
He closed his eyes and frowned. As he focused his will, his robes bellowed briefly in a wind that couldn't exist. The flame trapped within the green rock flared up in reply, almost filling its prison completely.
'Take it easy, will you?' Siren shouted, each word more distant than the last.
"You're talking to the wrong person there, lady," Kerr replied without opening his eyes.
His robes settled, but the magicite kept flaming in his grip, giving his face an unworldly brownish glow.
Gogo watched all this happen in silence, nervously fidgeting with his robes as he switched between worrying about his allies, and worrying about Siren's sanity. She seemed to suddenly have lost all sense of self-preservation.
