DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy VI and its characters are wholly the properties of Square Enix. This story is written purely for entertainment and not profit.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I want to give a special shoutout to RandomFFnetUser and WHAT THE BIMPS, two readers who have been reviewing every chapter of this story. Thank you both for all your feedback! For everyone else who has been reading and enjoying it so far, I thank you all as well and hope you'll continue to enjoy the remaining chapters. Okay, onward!

Resolutions

Written by daBOSSz

Chapter 6: Mog, Umaro, and Gogo

The pack chocobo carried its cart across the desert, undaunted by the endless stretches of sand dunes. Having served as the trio's mode of transportation for years, its strength allowed it to navigate mountain paths and raging rivers with barely a flinch, so traversing a desert was just another average day on the job. Besides, it had been trained in Figaro, making the desert its home. Now, it was headed home.

Three strange figures populated the cart that the chocobo was pulling. Sitting at the helm and holding onto the bird's reins was a man who kept his appearance shrouded in mystery, covering himself from head to toe and leaving only his eyes visible. Inside the cart, the last remaining known Moogle and his yeti companion rested, trying to recover some energy before the events they were headed to attend.

The trio was simply known around the world as M3, short for "Mime, Monster, and Moogle." In the aftermath of helping to defeat Kefka, they had come together to form an entertainment group that traveled the planet and put on shows aiming to lift the spirts of those still grappling with the impact of the apocalypse and tyrannical rule. None of them initially felt that this was a good idea, but after their first performance, they realized just how much a desperate planet craved entertainment.

Mog yawned and stretched out his limbs as he awakened, still not fully recovered from their latest show the previous evening. He felt guilty for accepting the offer to perform in Nikeah the night before the wedding, knowing that they would have to catch the earliest ferry in the morning to South Figaro in order to arrive to celebrate with the others. He was originally going to turn them down, but the city had begged and pleaded, pointing out that it had been a year since the trio performed there and sending them letters from its residents telling them how much they were missed. Umaro and Gogo were not happy with his decision, but they went along with the performance anyway because it would have been rude to reject Nikeah's offer after accepting.

Mog understood that he did not always make the best decisions, but being the only member both willing and able to speak for the group, it often fell on his shoulders to call the shots. He would prefer to consult with both Umaro and Gogo prior to doing so, but such opportunities were often denied to him because cities and towns who hired them to perform tended to pressure him into immediate answers. Mog may have known how to speak the human language, but he did not fully understand how to manage human affairs, which sometimes resulted in logistical nightmares for his group.

Thankfully for Mog, both Umaro and Gogo were fully understanding of his situation. Although his partners were not hesitant to make their displeasure known whenever he made a poor decision, they respected him enough to always honor his choices. This did not mean that he never felt awful about his decisions though; he still had not gotten over the time he agreed to performances in Jidoor and Mobliz on back-to-back evenings, forcing them to travel across the planet immediately after they had finished their first show without being able to rest the night at an inn. The Jidoor performance had been booked first, but Mog just could not say no to Terra when she asked him and his crew to perform for the orphans, never revealing to her that they would be on the other side of the world just twenty-four hours prior.

In many ways, Mog was glad that he had such outspoken partners, since their honestly gave him plenty of opportunities to grow into the leadership role he had landed with the group. He was especially pleased with Umaro's willingness to start speaking up for himself instead of constantly yielding to Mog's every command like the yeti once did. Mog still felt remorseful about how he had treated Umaro in the year after the apocalypse. There was so much anger and sadness over losing his entire clan that Mog took it out on the yeti, and all Umaro did in return was give him unconditional respect simply because Mog had once shared some food with him.

Mog was also grateful that Edgar had supplied them the pack chocobo they traveled with. The well-trained and well-disciplined bird could haul the three of them plus all their cargo through any terrain, and although the rides were often not smooth, they always managed to get to their destinations without many incidents. The chocobo was even strong enough to fight alongside the trio from time to time when they encountered the occasional monster that needed dispatching.

Once he was fully awake from his nap, Mog took a peek outside the cart and recognized the sand dunes of the desert surrounding Figaro. It had been quite a journey from Nikeah, but they were almost there, and his mind could already picture the scene of his friends reunited within the castle's walls.

As he slowly opened his eyes, Umaro saw a blurry vision of Mog looking outside. From the small window that Mog was looking through, Umaro noticed the desert backdrop. Being a yeti, he was not particularly fond of the desert or the heat that came with the Summer Solstice, but he had traveled so much over the past five years that his body had gotten used to constantly changing climates.

"Boss, you wake?" Umaro asked.

"Umaro, I told you to stop calling me that, kupo," Mog answered. "We've been partners for years now, kupo."

"Sorry Boss, me still used to Boss," Umaro said, causing Mog to shake his head.

Umaro had never held any hostility toward Mog, even during the year when Kefka ruled the world and Mog constantly acted upset in front of him. Few people knew that Umaro had actually witnessed the other Moogles perish when the world had been torn asunder, even faulting himself for failing to save them in time, so when Mog returned to the Narshe Mines, Umaro felt that his anger was fully justified. Mog would not find out the truth until after Kefka's defeat, and even then, he did not reveal it to the others until he put his shame for treating Umaro so poorly behind him.

Despite Mog asking him for forgiveness, Umaro assured Mog that there was no need because he had never blamed the Moogle for his anger. From that point onward, Mog strived to consult Umaro in all decisions, including when he proposed that they try their hand at entertaining others.

The proposal turned out to be exactly what Umaro was searching for, as performing on stage brought the yeti a sense of usefulness that he had never felt in his life. He discovered that he had more talent than just his brute strength; while audiences were dazzled by his ability to crush strong objects without much effort, Umaro enjoyed himself much more when he could get the audience to crack up over something silly he would do. He did not understand why, but humans seemed to enjoy watching a giant yeti cluelessly trying to figure out something they took for granted, and he played this role well.

However, what Umaro appreciated the most were the smiles of children when they met and played with him before and after shows. Once they got over their initial fear of him, children would love approaching him, sometimes just to touch his fur. Mog loved children as well, but he was less likely to spend time with them due to not wishing to have his ball of hair grabbed. Umaro, on the other hand, enjoyed their curious little hands trying to get a feel for his unusual (by human standards) body structure. Because of this, Umaro always looked forward to visiting Mobliz, where the orphans under Terra's care had become his favorite audience.

There would be no performances today though. Today was the day of the wedding, and Umaro was as excited as the others to see all of his friends together again. He may not have known the others as long as Mog, but joining together to defeat Kefka had bonded him to them forever.

Gogo was glad that, at the very least, he was able to get some decent rest the previous evening after their show wrapped up in Nikeah. With tight schedules, some days were similar to what they were now experiencing: minimal opportunities to catch their breaths post-performance before needing to hit the road to make it to their next one on time. While he did not appreciate the need to rush, Gogo at least had some expertise in operating on minimal rest.

As he guided their pack chocobo toward Figaro Castle, Gogo continued to think about how surprised he was at being invited to this wedding. After all, he was the one who had the least amount of time together with their mismatched family, so Gogo never thought that the others considered him close enough to be an inseparable part of them. When the invitation initially came, he wondered if he received one only because Mog and Umaro did, but during a performance in South Figaro a few months ago, Locke assured him that was not the case.

"Your time with us may have been briefer than the others, but you're just as important to us as everyone else," Locke told him. "Without you, our family would never have felt whole."

Gogo figured that saving the world together tended to form these types of bonds, although he was not really able to ask anyone else outside of their inner circle if this was actually true seeing as how only the fourteen of them who defeated Kefka that day could testify to it. Nevertheless, he was glad that he no longer felt alone in the world. It was still amazing to him how tightly this group had bonded him to them, especially considering that he only decided to join them impulsively because he had nothing to lose.

Before he was swallowed up by the Zone Eater, Gogo had tried his hand at solo shows, but audiences often felt insulted when he would mimic their habits and personalities as part of his performances. Seeing as how mimicry was his best talent, their frequently poor responses to his acts meant that his attempt at a career fizzled out before it even began. Part of the reason he started covering himself up was this failure, since he did not want to run into anyone who might recognize him as "that stupid mime who mocked me."

This part of his past was also why Gogo hesitated when Mog had suggested that they form an entertainment group and why he was unwilling to take up the mantle of leadership for the group even when Mog felt that having a human lead would be better. However, the rest of the family gave him their blessing to use what he learned from mimicking them during their battles in his performances. Celes was especially encouraging, pointing out that it was his mastery of mimicry that allowed them to escape from Kefka's tower in the first place. Umaro even enjoyed being mimicked, and while on stage, the two of them would often draw both laughs and gasps of amazement at how well they emulated each other.

With these thoughts in mind, Gogo felt that, at the very least, he owed his family his presence at the wedding. It did not matter how fleeting their time was in the leadup to Kefka's downfall; they had given him the second chance—albeit inadvertently—he never thought he would receive.

Figaro Castle's guards smiled upon seeing M3 step off their cart. Gogo handed the chocobo's reins over to one of the guards, giving him a nod of appreciation before the man led their mode of transportation to the stables. Umaro and Mog headed to the castle entrance with Gogo following suit. Upon reaching the gate, Gogo stepped up next to Umaro, and in perfect sync, the yeti and mime pounded their knocks on the giant doors.

The guards, completely familiar with their knock, immediately opened the gates. Standing on the other side was Terra, who instantly beamed brightly at the sight of the trio.

"Mog! Umaro! Gogo!" she exclaimed, walking up to give each of them a hug. "It's great to see all of you again!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES: It doesn't matter how minor these characters are. They enhanced FF6's story and made the game much more enjoyable to play, so they deserve their resolutions in this story as well.

All right, six chapters down. Please note that the next few chapters will take longer to complete because my life outside of writing is starting to get hectic, so please be patient.

What do you think so far? As always, feel free to leave me any comments you may have. I appreciate them all!