A Nightmare Before Doma
A pair of vivid colored shoes crossed the broad doorstep with firm steps, making short muffled noises and carrying along a most peculiar man, owner of a fashion sense that was his and his alone. He wore make up on his face and around his eyes, which almost made him look like a clown, along with a fancy and complex attire, put together in such a way that certainly made him look like one.
But looks aside, the reputation of Kefka Palazzo preceded him. He was one of the generals of the empire, known among the troops for his eccentric behavior and for being quite sadist, sadist to the point that it seemed like madness. It's not that he wasn't eccentric or sadist or cruel or even mad. It's just that there was more about him than what meets the eye.
Even now he stood few meters from the heavy oaken door that two guards had closed behind him, having just had a most important meeting with Emperor Gestahl. He had a troubled expression showing from beneath his make up, as though something was really bothering him or he was conceiving some kind of plan. He looked stern and worried and that air of being a clown was gone from his face. But out of the blue, before the guards could say or ask anything, the general erupted into maniacal laughter. It really startled and frightened the two soldiers; whatever they were expecting, it surely wasn't that.
Some days later Kefka watched Doma Castle from the military camp. It was already late in the night and there was none awake save those that were on guard duty. A cold gust of wind blew his colorful cape and hair backwards. Like that time in castle, the general's face was stern and trouble, and he looked much older than he indeed was as darkness stretched through his face. The man was lost in thought.
"So the day has arrived. But poison? I wonder if this is the right thing to be done... No. I shouldn't question my decisions." Kefka's expression began to change. As he thought further about the matter, his face was slowly becoming more dire, more cruel. "It's for a greater good and besides I should not care about this rebel scum. They deserve it! Destruction is the ultimate beauty Only through destruction creation is possible!"
And he laughed. But he laughed to fool himself, as deep inside he felt torn. No matter how much he believed that indeed the people of Doma deserved to die, he felt terrified and he felt excited, and the idea of uncountable lifeless bodies falling to the ground made him pleased. And that made him even more terrified. He shivered.
But still Kefka laughed. Laughed because he didn't accept the way he felt. Laughed because he was insane, because the feeling was making it even worse, driving his moments of lucid thinking away. Laughed because it was the only thing that there was to be done. And as he laughed the idea that those weaklings really deserved to die grew stronger and stronger inside him.
His laughter made one of the guards, a cadet that had just recently joined the army, come his way. "General Kefka, sir, excuse me but are you okay?" asked he asked, aparently quite afraid and a bit worried.
"I've never felt better," the general answered, and still laughing he entered his tent. "Tomorrow will be a day to remember..."
