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Chapter Six: Revelations
"The Empire cometh!"
"What?" various people yelled.
The sentry was followed in by Celes and Locke. "It's Kefka," the former general stated casually. "He's come for the Esper."
Cyan shot Celes a stony glare, but she ignored it. Locke in turn stared at Cyan, silently daring him to comment.
"Mayor, I fear Narshe's neutrality has been officially breached," Banon mumbled regretfully.
"It was breached when you began subversive Returner activity in my city," the mayor retorted, sending Arvis an angry look.
Celes decided to speak up. "Actually, if you want to get technical, it was when Terra was initially sent here for the Esper." Everyone looked at her. "What?"
"Listen, these paltry squabbles will get us nowhere," Edgar finally cut in. "This important thing right now is to keep that Esper out of Imperial hands."
Cyan drew a deep breath at that, throwing Celes another dark look, but he said nothing.
"Edgar is right," Banon agreed. "We must put aside our petty differences if we are to ward off this attack. Mayor, where is the Esper?"
"We moved it into the hills."
"Then we're going up after it," Edgar stated firmly.
Locke looked to his female companion. "Celes…"
"If you're going to ask me to fight, forget it," she snapped coldly.
"We're outnumbered, Celes. Badly. We need all the help we can get."
"Give me one good reason I should kill my own brethren."
"Once an Imperial dog, always an Imperial dog," Cyan muttered.
Locke ignored the Doman. "Other than the fact they tried to kill you?"
"A reason to avoid them, not walk up and say hello," Celes countered.
"Celes—"
"I will not get involved in this," she restated.
Locke reluctantly submitted. "Alright. Just do me a favor and stay here until we get back."
If you get back, she thought. She nodded in agreement. The Returners filed out of the house, but Terra lingered a bit longer.
"Are you sure you won't come?"
Celes looked up from the floor to Terra's emerald green eyes. "Let me ask you something, Terra. Why are you doing this?"
"Um…well…I…I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I'm still not sure about all this… But everyone has been so nice to me…"
Celes simply nodded pensively. "You realize nothing has changed, right?"
"What?"
Celes wondered if maybe she shouldn't burst Terra's little bubble of false security. Though Terra was entitled to know the truth—and was too naïve to figure it out herself—Celes decided now wasn't the time.
"Never mind. You should go."
Terra watched Celes for a moment, confused by what she meant. She had no idea why, but the girl found herself fascinated by the female general. There was something familiar about her, but she couldn't quite place it. A fleeting memory that she couldn't grasp a hold of. Pushing it aside, she ran to catch up with the others as they climbed into the foothills of Narshe, leaving Celes to her thoughts.
She sighed. "Oh, bloody hell…"
((ooo))
When the Returners reached the ground where the ensuing battle would take place, they planned out their strategy while the wild child, Gau, perched himself atop a nearby rock formation, watching for the Imperials. The narrow passages of the rock maze provided the perfect advantage for the undersized resistance. The numerous Imperials wouldn't have the room to launch a full-scale assault, and they would be forced to break up into small teams. The Returners would then be able to whittle their numbers down slowly but surely.
"I don't want to fight anymore," Terra said quietly.
"Terra, we kind of need you," Edgar explained worriedly.
"You mean you need my…abilities."
"Listen Ter, as much as we hate to admit it, we do need your magic," Locke confessed. "There are so few of us here, and who knows how many Imperials are coming."
The girl sighed. "…Alright."
"Uwaoo! Bad men come!" the boy Gau alerted.
"Well, here we go! Take your positions!" Edgar ordered.
Each of the three teams guarded the three paths out of the maze of rock and ice. Sabin and Locke were on the left, Edgar and Terra were on the right, and Cyan and Gau were in the middle. The large unit of Imperials lined up and began its advance through the rocky field, while Kefka and his second in command waited at the bottom of the foothill. It wasn't long before the first wave of troops was upon the warriors, and the long bloody battle commenced.
Wave after wave attacked. Bodies and dismembered parts littered the frozen ground. The glow of the torches and moonlight danced eerily off the blood-stained snow. The acrid smell of burned flesh and blood hung in the frigid air. The sound of clashing metal and pain-filled screams echoed through the night. The taste of fear, sweat, and blood trickled onto the warriors' tongues.
Down below, Kefka was cackling madly, but he was so engrossed by the carnage, he didn't hear the muffled shriek of his commander as a sword sliced through his back and into his heart. The body slumped to the ground, and Kefka felt a cold presence behind him.
"Well, if it isn't General Celes! How are you, my little—" he turned and found a bloodied but familiar sword leveled at him, and finished with, "traitor? I must say, I am quite perturbed by what happened in South Figaro. Had I known they would take matters into their own hands like that—"
"Who's the traitor, Kefka?" Celes interrupted. "You left me there to die. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if you didn't order it yourself."
"Careful of your accusations, Celes. Such an attitude is what got you in trouble the last time," he reminded with a knowing grin. "But come, now. Surrender quietly and I'll take you back to Vector myself for the chance to redeem yourself in court. But if you attack me now, your life will be over," he warned.
Her sword lowered slightly. The idea of getting the entire misunderstanding sorted out was enticing. But then, the memory of her arrest flashed in her mind.
"The next man to question my authority dies with him."
"Careful, Celes. For you to kill an Imperial officer on a whim is dangerously close to treason."
"Kefka… What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Doma."
"And I'm leaving from this port. What's going on?"
"General Chere refuses to step down."
"Failure to follow standard procedure for relief of command? Now that is treason."
"But you don't call mutiny among my men treason?"
"Worry not, Celes. We'll get this all sorted out, but I'm afraid I will have to have you detained first."
The true realization was finally beginning to dawn on her. It never registered with her before, never even crossed her mind because the thought was at one time unthinkable. Xander's words brought it crashing down.
"Kefka gave us permission to do whatever we want to you."
"It was you." Kefka tilted his head to the side at her whisper, and Celes met his gaze. "You were the one who betrayed me."
A wicked smirk slowly creased his face, and every muscle in Celes' body coiled, ready to spring into action at the slightest twitch Kefka made. Every brain cell in her mind worked like lightning, analyzing every aspect, every detail of her surroundings and her rival.
"So tell me… Kefka began casually. "How was your imprisonment? Was it cozy?"
Celes' expression hardened into a glare that could melt steel as she gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her sword. A split second later, her blade was whistling through the air straight at Kefka's neck. He narrowly drew his sword to deflect it, stumbling back under the frantic action and forceful impact. The Returners, though still engaged in their epic battle, took notice of the escalating conflict.
"I thought she said she wasn't getting involved!" Edgar yelled over to Locke.
The two generals charged at each other and both spun clockwise, their blades clashing in the end.
"So did I!" Locke shouted back.
All pretense of strategy vanished. All patience was thrown to the wind. Each allowed their hatred of one another to drive them, control them. They twisted and turned around each other, ducking, dodging, and deflecting each other's blows. They struck with impossible speed and accuracy, creating a deadly whirlwind of razor-sharp wrath. Both were incredibly strong, swift, and agile, but anyone could clearly see Celes was the better of the two. Her fatigue, though, was beginning to show. She lunged forward to impale him in the stomach, but Kefka leapt nimbly aside, seeing Celes wince out of the corner of his eye. She slashed at him several times, but he dodged easily to either side.
"What's the matter?" he taunted. "You're more sluggish than usual."
Though frustrated by the truth in his statement, she quelled the rising anger, and a plan quickly formulated in her mind to end the confrontation. She did a simple but swift round kick, but when Kefka caught her foot as she knew he would, she launched herself off her planted right foot into a clockwise spinning back kick. Her right foot connected with his jaw, and her sword arced out and slashed across his chest. Kefka staggered back, howling in pain and dropping to his hands and knees. He watched warily as Celes approached him, her sword still menacingly drawn.
"Well met," he growled. "Like the true Knight you are. But don't think this is the end."
He quickly drew a smoke bomb from under his colorful robes and threw it at the ground in front of him. Celes rushed to slash at him, but hit nothing but smoky air. Coughing in the smoke, she swore under her breath. Through the haze, she caught sight of a flash of color as Kefka ran down the foothill to where his escorts awaited. Celes stood silently still as she watched him flee.
The Returners had successfully fended off the raid, and the last two surviving Imperials fled back down the mountain pass through the maze of rock and right into Celes. She recognized them immediately: Xander and Brakiss.
"Well, if it isn't my personal persecutors. Coming to face retribution?"
"Don't make us fuck you again, Chere," Xander sneered, his confidence returning briefly.
Celes' icy expression turned colder and deadlier. She flung her Rune Blade with lethal accuracy at Brakiss, impaling him in the neck with such a force the blade was driven hilt-deep. Xander stared at his companion wide-eyed as the man fell to his knees, drowning in his own blood. Celes could see the fear resurface to Xander's eyes as she drew her dagger.
"Remember what I told you in South Figaro? That if I ever got my hands on you, I'd carve out your throat?"
His confidence shattered, and Xander bolted. Celes was quick and cut him off, grabbing him and throwing him against the rock. He tried to fight back, but she struck him across the face, forcefully turning him around, and vengefully stabbed her dagger into the side of his neck, restraining him across the shoulders with her other hand. He gasped for breath, choking on his own blood.
"Scream for me," she whispered.
As she slowly pushed the dagger forward and across the curvature of his neck, Xander let out a blood-curdling squeal before falling dead in a sea of blood. The other warriors watched Celes' brutal display in slight horror. How anyone, especially a woman, could commit such a grisly act of violence, they didn't know. They watched as a look of grim satisfaction crossed her blood-smeared face, and every single one of them was suddenly grateful she was on their side.
Locke finally snapped out of his trance and walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She merely looked at him, her expression softening to something other than satisfaction. For a spilt second, Locke thought he saw grief, perhaps even disgust at what she had done, but it quickly faded to a blank stare. Shrugging him off, she retrieved her sword out of Brakiss' neck and wiped her two blades off the best she could.
"I thought you weren't getting involved," Locke called.
"There's a difference between involvement and revenge," she replied icily. She unexpectedly lowered her head with a faint whisper. "And I failed."
"You came out of it alive, right?" Locke pointed out, trying to make light of the situation.
When she didn't respond, Edgar cleared his throat. "Well, we should get up to that Esper. Shall we?"
The group of battered warriors climbed to the summit where the frozen Esper loomed. Terra and Celes were immediately drawn to it, and both involuntarily reached out to touch the ice prison.
"Uh, maybe you shouldn't…" Locke warned, but he wasn't heeded. "Oh… ok."
Both stood entranced by the magnificent beast, captivated in its piercing gaze.
"An Esper…" Terra said.
"I can actually feel its mind…" Celes followed.
Her eyes closed of their own accord as her thoughts became enthralled by the mental presence of the mystical creature. Her fascination was interrupted, however, when a haunting echo filled her thoughts, running her blood colder than usual.
You think you know…who you are…what's to come… You haven't even begun.
Startled, Celes snapped her eyes open and abruptly dropped her hand from the ice, taking a step back. It had spoken to her. It had spoken the same words Shiva had the previous week.
"It feels…familiar," Terra whispered. "What am I feeling?"
A warning flashed in Celes' mind, and she began moving away from the Esper. The others were confused, and also frightened.
"Terra, back away."
Terra started breathing heavier. Her head was lowered and her eyes were closed.
"Terra…!"
In an explosion of light, two arcs of electricity shot forth from the Esper, the white one colliding with Celes, throwing her back, and the crimson one connecting with Terra. The discharge knocked the other warriors to the ground. A field of electrical energy formed the mage, and she was sent to her knees.
Locke crawled over to Celes and helped her sit up. "What's happening?"
The light intensified. "I have a feeling you're about to find out."
The warriors watched as Terra's green hair was replaced by a fiery mane of fur and pink tongues of flame sprouted from her flesh all over her body. The girl was doubled over and screamed in agony. Her fingers turned into sharp talons, and her emerald eyes changed into devilish little beady eyes of the deepest onyx. The light subsided, and the vaguely humanoid fiend stood up. Celes called to the others.
"We can't let her leave."
Celes threw out her hand, sending an icy blast at Terra. The wave of energy hit the disfigured girl, but caused no damage, stopped by an invisible force inches from her body. The polar energy rolled over Terra like waves on the shore, pooled, grew, and was suddenly repelled back towards Celes, slamming into her and throwing her back several yards. The general landed hard and didn't move.
Terra looked down at herself, then launched herself into the air, shrieking her torment as she flew off. The last Celes heard was Locke saying her name before she slipped into darkness.