Twenty minutes passed without a response from Ultimecia or Exdeath.
Twenty minutes stretched into thirty minutes.
Then thirty five.
He was a fool to trust Kefka, even with something as uncomplicated as playing messenger. Either the clown had disregarded him entirely, or he had delivered his summons and then all three of them loitered about, mocking him. The latter was far more likely, and the realization weighed down on his shoulders, pressing him into his throne. They were probably gathered in Ultimecia's castle, laughing about Chaos's attack on him, and about Rosa's attack on him, and about his summons. Kefka was probably throwing himself around the room, howling while Ultimecia told them of what Rosa did to him. How she humiliated him. She probably told them how she had to rip the arrows from his chest, one by one.
He could do nothing about their mockery. He needed them. If he attacked them or threatened them they would not agree to his plans, and he would be saddled with all of the grueling labor that was miles beneath him. He was effectively at their mercy, and he hated being indebted to people, even for as small a task as the one he was asking of them. Debt was a snare - for those who set the trap, it was an asset, and an extremely effective leveraging tool. For those who ended up trapped, it could be as dire as a death wish.
The sound of moving wind echoed through Pandaemonium, and the Emperor scrambled to sit up straight in his throne despite the pain in his side, thinking that Exdeath and Ultimecia had decided to show. Instead, his heart sank as the gaudy white of Kefka's face paint grinned up at him.
"Hello-o-o!" Kefka yelled, waving with his arm straight out. He hoped Kefka hadn't come alone. Ultimecia and Exdeath were probably right behind him. The Emperor waited for them to follow, growing irritated as the minutes stretched on.
"Well?" he eventually asked Kefka.
The clown's deranged smile dropped as much as it could, still maintaining the ghost of its shape due to the paint. His eyes flicked to the side once. "Well what?" he asked back.
"Well?!" the Emperor asked again, sweeping his arm to the side to gesture wildly to the otherwise empty room around them. "Where are they?"
"Pfft!" Kefka snorted, shoulders shrugging so high they nearly touched his ears. "How should I know? I gave them the message, and then I left!"
The Emperor's jaw clenched. "You need him, unfortunately," he reminded himself. "I don't like to be kept waiting," he growled through his teeth.
"How is that my fault? Maybe they don't like you that much. Or, I know: maybe next time you should get off your butt and gather them yourself!" Kefka's voice grew louder and louder until he screamed the last word.
The headache that had faded after Kefka left sprouted above his brow again, and the Emperor pinched the bridge of his nose to ward it off. "I gave you one task. One measly task: fetch Ultimecia and Exdeath. And you failed, even at that. How . . . dense can you be?"
Kefka scoffed, throwing a dramatic hand over his chest and splaying his fingers. "Dense? Well ex-cu-u-use me! You told me to tell them that you needed them here so you could reveal your 'very important plan!'" he said, putting it in air quotes.
"No, you stupid clown! You were told to bring them here!" he yelled back, emphasizing the word.
Kefka stared, mouth open, eyes flicking above the Emperor as he mapped out the conversation they had in his head. "Oh," he finally settled on.
The Emperor silently cursed his error in judgment to depend upon Kefka, Ultimecia, and Exdeath. He regretted engaging them at all, but it was far too late to discard their involvement if his message had been delivered. He needed people who would destroy without question, even if those people were erratic. "No matter," he said, sighing out the rest of his frustrations. "We will have to wait here for them. And if they do not come, we will have to go search for them. You are responsible for this delay, you obnoxious clown," he tacked on to the end.
The Emperor thought Kefka would take offense again, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. Kefka tossed his head back and cackled. His feet lifted off the ground and he floated several inches in the air. "'Obnoxious', he says!" Kefka yelled, as though to a crowd. "I believe that was one of the adjectives Chaos used when he tossed you into the wall! Aaaaahahahaha . . . "
"Silence-!" the Emperor yelled, leaning forward in his throne to sneer down at Kefka. The motions pulled at his side and chest and he gasped, clutching at his ribs to steady himself as best he could. Kefka didn't seem to notice, still stuck in the throes of his own revelry to the Emperor's relief, but a rage bubbled up inside the Emperor, so potent that his fists clenched and shook, claws cutting into his palms. His heart caught fire, pumping harder and harder, nearly beating out of his chest. The heat rose in his cheeks and his jaw clenched so hard his teeth ground together.
"Aww, you look upset! What's wrong, Emperor? Still trying to nurse that bruise your ego took earlier-?"
The Emperor called his power, lifting his staff, and he hurled it as hard as he could towards Kefka, aiming the little metal ball for his teeth. It was inches away from connecting when a harsh, throaty laugh resonated through the entire room, so loud it set the crystals rumbling. Kefka ducked from the sound instinctually, and the Emperor's staff sailed harmlessly overtop of his head. It grazed the feathers of his hairpiece, then clattered lamely off the floor.
Exdeath decided to show. The Emperor's relief at the thought of intelligent company distracted him from Kefka and he gathered himself, sighing out the rest of his emotion. He called his staff back to him and attempted to act causal, twirling the weapon in the air with his fingers next to the throne. A pocket of space in front of the thone wobbled, like heat lines rising from a hot road, and Exdeath materialized next to Kefka.
"Deathy!-" Kefka yelled, but Exdeath cut him off with a raise of his hand.
"How amusing," Exdeath rumbled. "I rather wish the blow would have connected." The Emperor stared at him in confusion, before realizing he was referring to his attack on Kefka. He smirked, nodding his agreement, and Exdeath continued. "Such trivial beings, you are. You argue and squabble amongst yourselves as though your quarrels possess any meaning in this world. Or in the Void," he added, and the Emperor felt that if Exdeath could have shaken his head, he would have.
"I suppose you presume your own quarrels have value, hm?" the Emperor countered.
Exdeath chortled in reply. "No more value than yours, Emperor. To what do I owe this . . . assembly?" Exdeath asked. "Surely you do not intend to involve me in some petty scheme. Was Chaos's little threat not enough for you? Ohohoho!" he laughed, throwing his whole back and shoulders into it. His armor clinked together with each heave of his massive shoulders and the sounds grated on the Emperor's ears. Every mention of Chaos's attack dug under his skin, and Exdeath used the most smug tone possible, intending to humiliate him into submission. Exdeath never held any respect for him or his plans, and he hoped he could provide enough of an incentive for Exdeath to agree to them.
The Emperor held eye contact with the slit in Exdeath's helmet, where he assumed his eyes were. There was little else he could do to physically impose on him. He lifted his chin but otherwise kept his face as neutral as possible. "I was hoping Ultimecia would be here. I have a . . . business proposition for you. All three of you."
"Hmph! 'Business'," Exdeath echoed. "What manner of business?"
"Ultimecia-" he started, but her cat-like purr filled the air, echoing around them.
"-is right here," she finished for him. She appeared beside Exdeath, stepping out of a pocket of darkness. "My, you're desperate to see us. This had better be a plan worth our time."
"I can assure you, it will be worth your time. I have . . . payment."
"Of what nature?"
"Don't you think you should hear the proposal first?" he asked her. He didn't want to give the prize away first. Otherwise, the two of them might form their own ideas of the difficulty of his task, and refuse before he even offered it to them.
"I suppose we should," Ultimecia said. "I'm terribly curious."
"I need someone taken care of. A Cosmos warrior."
Ultimecia's lips twitched in a haughty smile, but for whatever reason, she contained it. Instead, she raised an eyebrow and let a knowing look glint in her eyes. Of course she knew to whom he was referring. As an extra jab, she still asked, "Anyone in particular?"
"Yes. A new warrior, called only days ago. Rosa."
"What quarrels have you with a days-old warrior?" Exdeath asked. "Or does your cowardice in preying upon the weak know no bounds?"
"This has nothing to do with cowardice!" the Emperor hissed. "Call it . . . a grudge. Regardless, I want her dealt with. I want her destroyed so thoroughly, she won't be able to return to the cycle."
"I'm in!" Kefka yelled, throwing his hand in the air.
"This warrior . . . she is from your world?" Exdeath asked.
"No, she is not."
"Then I ask again - what quarrels could you possibly have with a days-old warrior?"
"My quarrels are neither of importance nor relevance! All I need for you to do is to destroy her. Make use of your role as the enforcer of Chaos's will."
"Oh yeah!" Kefka interjected. "I forgot that you're the expert on Chaos's will, Emperor."
"Be silent, or be gone, fool!" he snarled, pointing at Kefka. "You've heard my offer, accepted it, and can now have no more reason to be here!"
Kefka sneered in reply, grumbling under his breath. The Emperor swore he heard him say something about 'making him wait for something like this'. Finally, Kefka let out a dramatic sigh. "Well fine! Whatever. I'm in!"
The Emperor nodded his approval at the answer he expected all along. It wouldn't do to show them he was anything other than in control despite his attack on Kefka earlier. Every part of his body language needed to be calculated, and every word needed to be carefully spun into thread. He looked to Exdeath next, lifting his head and raising his eyebrows to force an answer. Without being able to see Exdeath's face he had no way of knowing if the tactic had any effect, and it was jarring compared to the concessions he was used to forcing. The Emperor let the awkwardness hang thick in the silence, resisting the urge to look away simply because there was nothing else to do or say. Exdeath's huge breaths were the only sign that he was alive.
After what seemed like forever, Exdeath answered him. "What will you give me in return?"
"Aren't you impatient, Exdeath?" the Emperor replied, shaking his head to imply the very concept was a travesty. "If you intend on waiting for the natural turn of the cycle to swallow Cosmos and her warriors and this world, you will be waiting for eternity! I present to you the opportunity to usher Rosa to your Void. What else could you desire? Your single-minded desire to see everything returned to the Void is rather common knowledge, and I know you have little desire for material things. This is exactly the job for you."
" . . . I also accept your offer. I suppose it is of no larger effort to me to see this warrior destroyed. She would, no doubt, fade in time." Without another word, Exdeath disappeared. Kefka quickly followed suit, offering the Emperor a mock salute.
"Goodbye, Superiority Complex!" he said, and disappeared as well.
Ultimecia waited for a long while and stared hard at the Emperor, waiting for him to give something away. He stood just as still as her, staring her down. "And me?" she asked. "What could you possibly have that would interest me?"
"I'm glad the others have left. I meant to speak to you about it privately. I have a number of relics of the Eidolons-"
"Worthless," she said, crossing her arms and turning away.
"A swatch of Shiva's veil? Worthless? I hardly think so. Monetarily, it is a tremendous prize."
"I have no use for the item, or the Gil it could earn me, and so to me it is worthless. You'll have to do much better than that."
"Time Compression, then. On this world." Her eyes flared. He celebrated his small victory, at having garnered her attention. "I am planning something big. The details are not yet worked out, but my ultimate goal is to destroy Chaos, which will create a certain . . . power vacuum, if you will, that I intend to fill. I had every intention of saving all of the spoils of this world for myself, taking his place and amassing power, but if that is the payment you'll require, I will allow you to share in the world after. We can split it equally between the two of us, and you can do whatever you'd like - be it destruction, be it Time Compression, be it anything - with your half. Time Compression still is your goal, is it not?" The Emperor already knew that it was.
Ultimecia crossed her arms again and narrowed her eyes in distrust. "And you'll reward me that, just to kill Rosa?" Ultimecia laughed, and the tinkling sound of it seemed to hang in the air over the Emperor. He kept his face as hard as he could, as still and as resolute against her taunting as possible. "She made a lasting impression, didn't she?" The Emperor said nothing, and waited for her to have her fun so he could hear her answer. "Hm. I'll join, I suppose. But don't think for a minute that I don't know that you're hiding something from me. I may not know what it is yet, but believe me, I'll sniff it out." Her condescending sneer dropped into a frozen glare before she disappeared.
"Wait!" he yelled, before she completely faded from Pandaemonium. He thought she hadn't heard, but she returned, still with that frosty edge to her eyes. "If I were you, I would refrain from antagonizing me. I reserve the power to retract my offer at any point - even after Rosa is dead."
Ultimecia scoffed, blinking her surprise. "And I reserve the right to refuse to go on your little revenge tangent!" she yelled incredulously.
"Get it done, and you will be given all that you were promised."
"I don't believe you," she answered coldly. "I'll do it, but not for you. With Rosa gone it only weakens Cosmos, and that is one less obstacle to my own goals. Your own be damned," she spat. She disappeared again, and the Emperor knew that even if he wanted to get the last word in she wouldn't have returned.
He hated having to depend so much on her and the others. Distrust ran rampant among Chaos's warriors which left him a minuscule amount of room to act without scrutiny. Fortunately, his skill in strategy was unmatched, and the time they realized he would be excluding them from their prizes, he would have already crushed Chaos. Perhaps even crushed Cosmos.
They all would bow to him.
A/N: Don't forget to leave a comment if you have the time!
This is the first chapter that I HEAVILY deviated from my own source material - the old version - and wrote a lot from scratch, so let me know how I did!
Thanks to everyone who left comments and kudos! :)
~Keyblader