Chapter 35, Council

The Chancellor of Figaro castle was not happy. To him it felt like all the people and moogle around the table would listen politely to what he had to say, and then still go on their merry way without a second thought. And he could miserably conclude with all logic vested in him, that that feeling spoke true.

He had to admit though, the king's enthusiasm and vigor had only seemed to decline in the last few weeks. But if the choice stood between a very possible death at Gestahl or Kefka's hands on the battlefield, and a non too plausible declining in safety… no, His Majesty Edgar was far too strong to just wilt away.

"I beg you to reconsider, Your Majesty," the Chancellor said in a desperate attempt to halt the evolution, "the grief of loosing you to the empire greatly crippled the trust in our own ability to win…"

"But I was saved, and the fighting spirit recovered," Edgar said, calmly.

He turned his head, looking over the rest of the room.

"I fully trust in my friends and soldiers' capability to protect me should the need arise. We have more magic and powerful warriors now. More importantly, they must be able to trust in my capability to protect them as well."

"Your Majesty…"

"What really scares me right now," Edgar interrupted, "is the notion that without me safe and sound, our cause is lost."

Terra silently nodded as she heard the same argument that had helped smacking her into realization. By the sound of it, Edgar had thought long and hard about that one.

The Chancellor opened his mouth, paused, and shook his head.

"I knew this was a lost discussion from the start," he muttered, looking at Edgar, "I am in minority, but I beg of you to reconsider, Your Majesty."

"That is not possible, I'm afraid."

Edgar smiled.

"I promise to be careful, however," he said.

Sighing, the Chancellor rubbed his temples. There was a headache in there, slowly crawling closer.

"Then I cannot hinder you further, Your Majesty," he said.

"Thank you."

Edgar turned to the rest of the room again.

"Well then, it's decided," he said, "I'll come along on the hunting trip planned for tomorrow."

He had to chuckle at the whistles and claps. These people were midgets before the might of the empire, but with combined forces from all rebels assembled and out there in the enslaved world, they still stood a chance. And he would finally be allowed to be one of them again.

"According to the evaluation of the new recruits from Maranda," the Chancellor tiredly began, "we're going to need a good deal of new game. The minimum this mission can bring us…"

'Ah… excuse me…'

Terra blinked at the whisper in her mind.

'Siren!'

She could feel the esper recoil, just at the outer border of her mind.

'No wait!' Terra quickly thought, 'you just surprised me. What is it?'

'You're really not mad?'

Siren's voice shrunk for every word. The direct question forced Terra to pause, for the situation with this mind esper had caused her nothing but confusion since she learnt of it. In fact, she had attempted not to think of it at all.

'Surprised,' she finally repeated, 'I don't know what to make of it.'

'I understand. I'm sorry.'

'I don't blame you…'

Terra hesitated again, frowning.

'Is… he listening?'

Siren gritted her teeth.

'I can't be sure, but he might be. That's why I'm whispering,' she said.

'Oh.'

Maduin's rumbling voice suddenly broke into the conversation.

'Siren, you're not scared to come inside, are you?' he asked with concern.

'I…'

She fell silent, shaking her head.

'Nobody believes that you'd have anything to do with him without a very, very good reason,' Maduin said.

Siren sighed.

'Yes, either this or I'm stuck here together with Gogo until Kerr gets bored enough to kill us both,' she muttered.

'That's what I thought.'

Maduin managed a smile, trying to hold up an encouraging look despite the risk of being watched by one of the men he hated most in the world. Siren tried to return the friendly gesture, but failed even worse.

'Gogo have asked Kerr to behave, but I don't know if he'll comply,' she said, 'despite that, we need to talk with the Returners. Gogo has a plan to get him and me out of here. We want to help you fight again.'

She was proud of herself for not hesitating when saying "plan" instead of "utterly insane suggestion". The fact that she had gotten herself talked into this madness still baffled her.

'What about Kerr, will you fight against him too?' Terra asked.

'Gogo is unwilling to do so, but I would not hesitate to,' Siren grimly said.

She threw a warning glance backwards, and Terra could swear that she felt an amused smirk from the other end of the world. Considering the circumstances she could not bat it off as her imagination either, even if she wanted to.

The half-esper bit her lower lip to collect herself. The risk of Kerr speaking to all of them just to amuse himself was high, but if Gogo and Siren could somehow safely return to the Returners' lines it was a threat worth facing. Not like he could do much more than get on their nerves on this distance, anyway. Probably.

'Right?' she thought, presenting the worry running through her mind.

'Of course not,' Siren said, 'I understand your worry, but I assure you that even if I was completely desperate I wouldn't do this if it was dangerous to any of you.'

She held her breath, waiting for Kerr to let everyone know that she was completely desperate. But there was only silence. He must not have heard it.

'You can trust Siren, Terra,' Maduin approved, 'I would know if this was a trick. Mind espers are too complex to be recreated or controlled by an outer force without it being apparent.'

Siren gratefully looked at him, but couldn't help but think to herself:

'I wonder about that, when it comes to Gogo…'

During all this, the rest of the world went on as it had planned to.

"… As with last time, we're counting on you to track down something for us to hunt, Gau," Edgar concluded.

It was hard not to grin widely when the boy beamed with pride.

"Yeah, Egaar!" he said, scratching the table with his nails.

A glance from Sabin made him cease the clawing, but he still smiled from ear to ear.

"That should be all…" Edgar began.

"Wait…" Terra said.

"Yes?"

She found herself in the center of everyone's attention and nervously reached up to scratch her hair. This would be… tough.

"Um… well, there's something that I… we who went on the mission to Maranda need to tell the rest of you," she said.

There was no need to look up to notice how those involved stiffened. Terra realized that she had indeed not been the only one too tired and distracted to share the crazy news yet.

Wonderful.

Terra glanced around in an attempt to get approval from the other witnesses from the Falcon, but they all seemed to have become very interested in the table. Or the idea that staring hard enough at it would make it catch fire.

In defeat, the half-esper cleared her throat.

"As we loaded the freed men on the Falcon," she began, "Siren spoke to my mind to warn us about Vector approaching."

She paused to let that sink in for a moment.

"Wait, what?" Strago said, proving to be the quickest to catch on – probably much to Relm's chagrin.

Terra avoided the baffled gazes and continued.

"According to her Gogo is still alive, as well," she said.

Nobody said anything. Not even the Chancellor, since he had learnt about the events in Vector and thus was as stunned as all those who were there during the breakout.

"I have no idea what this means, even if we were told the whole story," Terra continued, shaking her head.

Inside of the woman's mind, Siren took in a deep, mental breath and looked over her shoulder.

'Let me speak with them now, Kerr,' she said.

'Be my guest.'

Siren braced herself, but it helped very little. With a half strangled shriek she tumbled out of Terra's head and onto the floor between the chairs.

"Ouff!"

It did not actually hurt, for she sank straight into the floor before getting her bearings straight. The cry escaped her only because of the sudden movement.

Few of those who had not expected this were unable to keep from breathing in sharply in surprise.

Without thinking, Terra swept her hand down to help Siren. But the half esper's fingers passed straight through the blonde's arm. Despite this, Siren threw a grateful glance at Terra as she got to her transparent feet, for the thought if nothing else.

The esper straightened up and looked around the table, clenching her teeth at the disbelieving stares. She cleared her throat, pressing the harp to her chest.

"Hello, everyone," she started, "I'm sorry about shocking you like this."

Relm managed to react first this time, slamming her hands into the table and shooting up from her chair.

"What's this about Gogo not being pasted onto the wall?" she demanded.

"That-" Siren started.

"And you should be grinded into dust or in the esper facility by now! What the hell is going on?"

"Uh…"

An awkward silence fell over the room as Siren struggled to get her mental balance back. That had not exactly been what she expected to hear. On the other hand, she had not been sure what to expect at all.

"You know what, Relm, you really scare me sometimes," Setzer said in an attempt to break the ice, "I think all of us should be happy that you're on our side."

"But they stayed around with Kerr!" the girl protested, waving her arms so wildly that she nearly poked Strago in the eye.

"If you'll just allow me, I can show you what has happened!" Siren said.

She had to raise her voice in order to be heard above the bickering between the grandfather and granddaughter. They fell silent upon her call, returning to studying her with vague suspicion.

"What do you mean, show us?" Sabin asked, his eyes thinning.

Siren glanced at Terra in a silent plea for support. The young woman nodded, turning to the rest of the assembly.

"Siren did the same to us on the Falcon," she said, "she simply intends to show you her memories. It's not dangerous."

It was no coincidence that she looked at Edgar towards the end of her explanation, and everybody knew it. The king crossed his arms and met Siren's gaze.

"Very well then, since Terra says so," he said.

The words and the remains of distrust in them were painful, even if Siren had been prepared for them. But she forced herself to swallow the bitterness, to keep it out of her voice as she spoke.

"This will only take a moment, but you might feel a little dizzy," she said.

'Now, Kerr,' she sent out with her mind.

'Oh, with pleasure.'

'Take it eas-'

"Ugh!"

The shove of magic force ramming into Siren brought the protest to a rough end. She had no choice but to release the power before it became unbearable.

The sound of the harp drifted into the air. Several of the yet uninformed Returners recoiled on their seats as the magical ribbons flowed out of her head, and regarded the approaching memories with more alarm than suspicion.

"Really," Terra said, attempting to offer help again, "it's not dangerous at all."

"She's right," Celes said, finally breaking her grim silence.

The half-esper cast a grateful look at her friend, who attempted to smile a little in return. The blonde's remaining reservation could be read all too well in her features, however.

Meanwhile, Siren carefully guided the glowing tendrils towards the six people who had not yet gotten the whole, twisted story, including the Chancellor. Every single one of them flinched, but as soon as the magic touched their heads, their eyes opened wide to stare at nothing. Flashes of disbelief and anger crossed their faces as they watched the events being played in new minds.

Siren added nothing more to what she had shown those who were on the Falcon, purposefully leaving out last night's planning in Kerr's room. As she pulled back, the sound of groans and hands meeting foreheads filled the air for a short while. She waited for the Returners to regain their orientation before she spoke again.

"A little while ago, Gogo presented a plan for escaping from Vector," she said, "that is why I am here now, to let you know about it. We want to help you fight again."

A shaking fist slammed into the table.

"Such is thy claim, but how dost we know this be not treachery?" Cyan demanded.

Siren waved her free hand, trying to calm him with the simple motion. It had little effect, as expected.

"I understand your anger," she said, "but both Gogo and I are sincere…"

"He is of the same blood as Kefka! They bear the same face!"

"Cyan, please…" Terra said, trying to calm the furious warrior, "you're being unreasonable…"

That only served to turn his disbelief towards her.

"Thou hast suffered greatly because of him as well, miss Terra!"

"Not because of Gogo…"

"I know Gogo," Shadow said, "he is nothing like his brother."

The ninja sounded as calm as ever, of course. It was quite unsettling.

"This is screwed up!" Relm exclaimed.

She crossed her arms and glared at Cyan.

"Still, didn't you go nuts because Celes joined the fighting, too? Gogo is a pro-weirdo, but he's not a bad guy."

Sabin stood up, breaking through the bickering that was about to explode between Cyan and Relm.

"I'm with Cyan!" the prince sharply said.

Satisfied with this catching everyone's attention, he continued in a calmer voice:

"I don't want anything related to Kefka on our side. How do we know that we can trust him?"

"You trust Celes, don't you?" Locke said.

As the others looked at him, he resolutely shook his head.

"Don't get me wrong," he said, "I don't want a Kefka-look-alike on our team. But you are being a pair of hypocrites."

"No. I don't want that person here either."

Locke turned to Celes, frowning. She had crossed her arms and pressed them tightly against her chest, refusing to look at anything but the table.

"It would be best for himself," she said, "because I would constantly have to restrain myself from stabbing him in the chest."

"Gogo helped us free you and the others from Vector," Shadow said, "without him we would have had to fight Kerr, in grim circumstances."

The argument ceased for a moment as the image of a half-dead Edgar in a furious Kerr's grip crept into the Returners' minds. The train of thought was not a pleasant one.

Finally, Mog broke the ice by placing his furry little paws on the table and asking a practical question.

"How did you guys manage to work with the weirdo back then, kupo?"

Terra took the chance and stood up to get the attention.

"It was a strain at first," she said, "I felt very uncomfortable around him, though I tried to hide it. However, Gogo is so completely different from his brother, and the mask he wears helps too. Soon enough, you forget what he looks like beneath it."

"True," Strago thoughtfully said, "the urge to cave his head in for good measure kinda went away after studying his meekness for a while."

"Really!" Relm said, "haven't you people learnt that you shouldn't judge people by the way they look? We've got a teddy bear on our team, and we expect him to fight as good as the rest of us!"

"Kupo!"

"And an obnoxious child who should have her mouth washed with soap, too," Strago murmured.

"I heard that!"

Terra forced down the urge to chuckle, and turned her head.

"What do you think, Edgar?" she asked.

All eyes turned to the king. He leant forwards, resting his chin on a platform weaved by his fingers. The frown on his forehead seemed to have been there for a while, and appeared determined to remain where it was.

The silence stretched once more. Finally, Setzer cleared his throat.

"If you don't mind my opinion," he said with the shadow of a smile, "I have to admit that I'm quite intrigued by this man who can keep Kefka from killing him, with words alone. And didn't we say that we need every last fighter we can get?"

"True…"

Finally Edgar straightened up, but his expression gave no hint of his emotions. Even Sabin had to admit that he could not recall seeing his brother so stony-faced before.

"We do need any help there is," he said, "and definitely every single piece of magicite we can salvage. I don't like this at all, but if not for this Gogo, then at least for Siren."

He looked at the silent esper.

"But, we cannot come and save you," he said.

"We know that," she said.

"How are you planning on getting out, then?"

Siren managed to suppress a cringe.

"It's all Gogo's idea, and quite a crazy one, too. They'll…"

She briefly explained the plan.

After finishing her task, blank stares were her reward.

Relm, once again, managed to be the first one to comment.

"Uhhh…?" she said in disbelief.

"That's suicide!" Terra exclaimed.

"Trust me, I've tried to talk them out of it," Siren said, sighing, "but once Gogo managed to get Kerr interested…"

Sabin threw both hands into the air.

"See? He's mad too. It's official!" he said.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Siren asked.

She did not ask this with sarcasm. It was a plea, nothing else.

But the bodybuilder lowered his hands, never taking his gaze off her. The frustration in his eyes melted away as he studied her haggard expression.

"No," he finally said in a soft voice.

The esper sighed.

"So, that's how it is," she said.

She attempted to get a grip of herself, and straightened up.

"Well then," she continued, "if we do make it out, where shall we try to go to meet you?"

"We cannot risk setting up a meeting point," Edgar said, "you have to understand that."

Siren nodded.

"Yes, I do. The problem is that Gogo isn't as powerful as Kerr, so it might be hard for him to send this mental link of me all the way to Terra, depending on where we are. That's why we need some kind of guidance."

"Even if you have, will you make it there?"

Edgar paused and glanced at Gau. The boy, who had been sitting in confused silence about all the bickering almost shot up from his seat, eager to help. The king's lips twitched, and he turned back to Siren.

"Try to make it to the Veldt," he said, "we go there occasionally to hunt, and Gau should be able to find you there with his… connections."

"Very well," Siren said, "we'll try to escape this evening."

She managed to smile, and bowed her head.

"Thank you, everyone. I hope to see you soon."

With those words, she began to fade away.

"Godspeed," Terra said, mustering up what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

Siren's grateful expression was the last thing they saw of her before she disappeared completely.

For a moment, nobody said anything.

"They are so dead," Relm finally concluded.

"Look at it from the bright side," Locke said, massaging his temples, "they'll probably take Kefka down with them."

'-'

Siren flowed into her magicite and sprung out to check on the brothers. Kerr's lack of intrusion confused her.

She found that Gogo was sitting beside his brother on the sofa, holding Kerr's collar in a tight grip.

Ah.

"There, everything done," the older brother said and lowered the green rock onto the table, "now let go before I fry you, midget."

Gogo carefully released the handfuls of cloth, watching the other man for any hints of incoming attacks.

"Thank you for behaving," he eventually said.

"Don't count on me keeping that up. I had plans too, you know. Bore."

He stood up with a smirk.

"Oh well. Let's prepare for tonight's show, then. I'm getting fed up with the peacefulness around here."

'You are going to keep behaving, right?' Siren said.

She knew it was a stupid question. They knew it was a stupid question. But it had to be said or she would never be able to focus on what she needed to do.

"Of course not, idiot!" Kerr merrily said as he pranced towards the other end of the room.

'I know.'

Siren sighed.

Kerr, meanwhile, dug out a pile of paper and a bottle of ink from the depths of the wardrobe.

"What are you doing?" Gogo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's just call it a goodbye present that Gestahl gets to pay."

The lord sat down again, and produced a pen from some hidden pocket in his robe. It was the first time that Siren ever had seen that atrocity of a dressing code used for something practical like storing things. She had to admit that she was impressed.

Kerr ripped a scroll from the pile of papers and books already lying on the table, and opened it.

"Hold this for me," he said.

Still confused, Gogo reached forwards and placed his hands on the edges of the paper to keep it from rolling back.

The text on the open scroll was not written by Kerr.

Gogo raised his eyebrows as he watched his brother starting to copy the text from the scroll onto the empty paper before him.

"Uh…" the mimic began, "weren't you worried about getting caught?"

"Yeees?"

"You're signing a death warrant for that possibility, you know."

"What, are you backing out? Too late for that, little one."

Siren floated down to see what they were talking about. After a brief time of studies, she looked at Gogo.

'Did you hit him over the head while I was gone?' she asked.

"I must have done something, I just don't know what…"

Kerr just smirked, a manic glint in his eye. He was having fun.

Oh dear. Oh dear.

'-'

Evening fell over the floating palace, and the air forces buzzing around it began to return to the hangars.

A peaceful, simple evening.

Until a wall in the southwestern wing exploded. A few soldiers happened to be in the same corridor, and dazed with the shock they began hurrying towards the sudden collection of rubble.

From the smoke and dust dashed a figure dressed in yellow robes. At first, the soldiers thought that it was lord Kefka, but the helmet with its huge feathers and the veil soon taught them different. And so did the appearance of lord Kefka from the very same smoke and dust.

The strange, veiled figure rushed into the confused soldiers and broke through with brute force. The one who managed to remain standing had to press himself to the wall by own force as a magical lightning bolt zapped through the air and plucked one of the feather's from the stranger's helmet. This only increased his speed.

"Come back here, you weakling!" lord Kefka screeched, "it'll only hurt for a couple of seconds!"

But the escapee, surprisingly enough, did not stop.