Chapter 13

The Breaking

As soon as the stealth pod touched down at the Airstation in Esthar City, Leo was herded by the Praetorians onto a much more lavish transportation hovercraft heading for the Empress' main residence.

During the flight from Trabia, every Praetorian had looked at him curiously and warily but would not question the orders of the Empress. The surprisingly diminutive Sorceress Selphie had stared vacantly at her feet, indifferent to General Zebalga's appalling leering. When Leo had chanced a glance at the Empress, she had been staring almost as distantly through the encircling window. When the craft reached the old presidential building, Selphie was escorted away by Ialantha and Yuki. Zebalga was given leave, and he departed for the military HQ.

Leo had followed suit, regarding the sprawling metropolis that had been abandoned for greener pastures more than a century before his birth. He believed historians could not have possible done the capital justice with the written word. Esthar City would have covered most of the Balamb mainland, although following the Lunar Cry, the suburbs had never been reclaimed. The middle and upper classes were left to die in their lavish homes. This was before the Empress had risen to power, their deaths on the incompetent and cowardly Laguna Loire's hands.

The economy had collapsed, with looting prevalent throughout the post-apocalyptic country. The already harsh Great Plains had become an impassable wasteland, abandoned to the hordes of behemoths, elnoyles, iron giants and other terrible beasts - whose numbers had far outweighed those currently enslaved to augment the military. Effectively under siege, most citizens trapped within the capital would rather have taken their chances on the moon.

The outer ring of Esthar City had been walled off from the middle districts. Priority had been given to the commercial districts; the government buildings; the industrial, research and production facilities; and the city centre. But the monsters had not been completely eradicated from these areas until a young Reina had arrived with her growing legions of followers, delivering the Esthari from death. When she reached the city of Mordred from Mount Bevelle, the Esthari had quickly seen the Sorceress as a saviour, rallying behind her as their president had continued to cower in his bunker.

Leo was summoned directly to the 'office' at the end of the hall. On the wall to the left was a portrait of Esthar's founder – and ruler for most of its history – Sorceress Adel. Like the late Sorceress, the portrait was over ten feet high. Although said to have been classically beautiful in ancient times, Adel's mutation had made her unsightly. Her hair and eyes were crimson. She had a broad, masculine upper body covered in tribal symbols, her strong jaw outlined by the solid black branding. There were metallic black pinnae protruding from her back, reaching to the edge of the portrait. Below her toned abdomen was a flowing black skirt with a cream frock.

But this would be the image Reina remembered of her mother, as the first ever to be birthed by a Descendant of Hyne. How Adel had looked when Reina had been a child.

The room had been restored to the throne room it had been during the rule of Adel. A scarlet carpet led to the throne, almost identical to the ones within Ultimecia's castle, with which Leo was familiar. It was in front of the throne that the Empress commanded Leo to kneel. He did so without question, with the Praetorians arrayed in a semi-circle behind him, their weapons drawn. Even though the Empress believed him to be no threat, the Praetorians were willing to take no chances, and Leo admired their devotion. They were a finer bunch than the Twelve from his own time, or at least, the green eleven that Vargas had picked to replace the ones killed by Omega.

The Empress leaned forward, taking his head in those strangely human hands that lacked talons. Faced with her barely concealed pale bosom, Leo respectfully closed his eyes as she resumed the mind contact. It took much longer than it had in the future, which was understandable. In learning everything there was to know about Leo, the Empress would learn everything about her future self. Perhaps mentally shielded as to what to expect, she did not recoil or break away as she had in Trabia.

At one point, Nero asked, 'Is all well, Your Grace?'

Leo opened his eyes and saw the Empress nod. Then the unpleasant intrusion of his mind ended, leaving him slightly dazed. The Empress bored into his eyes, her expression unreadable, and Leo dutifully lowered his own. His gaze quickly skirted over her breasts and fixed upon her navel. But with his eyes open, and her hips in his vision, his pulse started to race. Though was wholly unashamed. Like her future self, the Empress now knew the truth.

'Cullyn, Reinhardt, show Christophe to one of the guest suites,' she ordered. 'You are to guard the outside until you are relieved, or until I summon for him.'

There was a brief pause, and Leo heard two slow pairs of pounding footsteps quickly close the distance between them.

'You heard the Empress!' a surly voice said, with heavy highlands rhoticity. 'On your feet, sellsword!'

Leo looked over his left shoulder to see Reinhardt. He made a show of slowly obliging, turning to face one of the few men that could dwarf him head on. Up close, Leo noted the highlander's greying beard was oiled and intricately platted. He could smell the unpleasant aroma of the oil mixed with Reinhardt's own sweat. Cullyn, a Trabian northman his own height, seemed more patient. He stood a little distance away, his greatsword pointing away from them.

'If you will lead the way, Christophe,' Cullyn said patiently. 'The elevator to the guest suites is down the hall, to the right.'

Leo nodded once and haltingly moved to walk between them. The other Praetorians present parted to let him pass. He did not look back as he exited the throne room. As he proceeded down the corridor, he knew Cullyn's voice by its tenor.

'We can take the stairs, if you prefer.'

'Yes, thank you.'

Leo had spotted the elevator before, and did not believe it was big enough for the three of them. A few minutes later, they reached the door to a guest room. An attendant down the hall opened it for them, and Reinhardt expectantly held his huge hand out for the key card. He gave Leo a hard stare as he entered the lush room.

'Have a good night,' Cullyn said, giving him a knowing half-smile before leaning in to close the door, and Leo immediately knew that the Praetorian was attracted to him. Leo allowed himself a soft chuckle. With his flowing auburn hair and chinstrap beard, Cullyn was a handsome man.

But the erection that persisted that night had been accompanied by the fresh image of Reina's body. The attire of the Empire left little to the imagination, as it did in his time. As much as Leo tried to replace it with thoughts of Alanis, it was of little use. And every time he pictured a face adorning that body on the throne, it was that of Ultimecia. With her snow white skin, horned grey hair, yellow eyes, and facial tattoos.

It had been twenty-four hours since the Empress had resumed the mind contact. Leo was watching the holographic entertainment screen in the lavish guest suite, not truly paying attention to basketball game. Not that the sport had not fascinated him at first, as most sport not involving blood was a rarity in his timeline. With his height, Leo may have been suited to shooting at those high, hooped nets himself. He reclined on the bed after the end of the game.

He wondered what had become of Sorceress Selphie. Was she being kept in a similar suite? His musings were interrupted as his door was opened, and Nero and Rubicanta entered.

The redheaded Praetorian spoke. 'The Empress summons you, Christophe.'

Approaching the throne room, Leo had seen only Rillina and Kain, standing either side of the entrance. Neither held their stare as he approached.

Inside, the Empress commanded Nero and Rubicanta to leave them alone. She gracefully rose from her throne and approached Leo, stopping just inches away. His heartbeat increased in tempo. He would never know how the future Ultimecia felt about his true feelings for her. This was the closest he would ever get to finding out.

'It was a lot to comprehend, Leo,' she said. 'I never once doubted that I would win the Third Sorceress War. Not after Balamb, and especially not after taking Selphie. The Children of Fate became too fragmented after the Divide. I was not surprised that Quistis, Rinoa and the Lionheart all die in Galbadia. Perhaps not within moments of each other; I assumed that perhaps one of them would reach Wilburn, or seek shelter with Edea's rats. But all the same, I knew my conquest could not be stopped.'

When the Empress paused, Leo spoke. 'If I may, Your Grace, I only showed you the outcome as a last resort. Because of the threat posed by Gerra Almasy.'

'I know.' She spoke the traitor's name, glancing to the room's solitary floor-to-ceiling window. 'Gerra. The Undying Fire. The descendant of Edea's Bloodhound. The gladiator who becomes my Knight in the future, only to betray me.'

'I had no inkling, Your Grace, as you have already garnered,' Leo replied. 'Gerra always claimed that you favoured him over your previous Knights, and never denied his love for you.'

'Perhaps he did love me, once,' the Empress speculated. 'But if that love was capable of abating, it was not true. Not like your own, Leo.'

He said nothing, and the silence seemed to stretch on for an age.

'Come to my private chamber,' the Empress said, turning to walk to a door in the corner of the throne room.

Leo followed, entering a sizeable bedchamber with a four-poster in the middle of the left wall, the sheets the same scarlet as Reina's gown. Leo's heart racing, he took in no other features of the chamber as he walked behind the Empress. She turned a few yards from the bed. With a sweep of her arm, he heard the door lock behind him, and she resumed talking.

'Adel never had a Knight,' she stated. 'She was spurned by her one true love, Marcus, after seizing power in Centra. She swore to never to take another, keeping that vow for two thousand years. I was born in vitro, out of necessity, but you know this. My point being, I have never taken a Knight, either. I always thought that the notion was folly; why have one guard when I can have a dozen? Nor have I ever met a man who might be a suitable consort.'

Leo waited for the Empress to continue.

'But I had an epiphany during what passes as sleep for a Sorceress. Nero and Kain, young and unmarried, will pleasure me if I command them to.' Then she smiled faintly. 'Rillina and Rubicanta, too. But they all do so only out of fealty, able to satiate their lust at the same time. Sadly, I have never known love. The thought that you could love me irrevocably, without falling under any fascination spell, warms my heart, Leo. You are caught somewhere in time, but I know you will defend my ascension until the end. Take a knee once more, and I will grant you what you have always desired. You shall become my Knight.'

The Empress knew it was what he had always wanted, and how better to defend her from Gerra? Permanently removed from his era, his family, and his post, he had no purpose but to defend the Empress from the Undying Fire. Unhesitatingly, Leo knelt before her. He slowly drew both blades of Harbinger and reunified them. Reina drew her hand along the flat of the blade nearest to her, likely sensing the enchantment her future self had cast upon it.

'It would be my honour, Empress Ultimecia.'

As if in response to his use of the name, Reina morphed into the image of her future self, the transformation complete in just a few seconds.

'You can use that name while we are alone, Leo. But I cannot be known by it until my conquest is complete.'

Her clothes abruptly disappeared. Ultimecia stood naked before him, the torchlight of the chamber glistening off the pale curves of her body, blinding Leo to any of the bestial features.

'You will not see Alanis again. She would understand. You know this, Leo.'

Leo was a loyal husband. But could he keep his vows when he knew he would never see Alanis again? Although separated by centuries, it had barely been a fortnight since they had last parted in their underground home, since he had last seen Leona and Griever. Surely that was too soon, even if he had to quickly accept that they were forever gone from him?

Ultimecia turned from him with deliberate slowness and closed the distance to the bed. Leo found his eyes irresistibly drawn to the motion of her hips and her shapely rear. She slowly turned again, sitting on the bed with her hands behind her, her chest thrust forward and her long legs parted.

'It's okay, Leo.'

Leo realised that his clothes were gone, too. His penis was unstrained, and Ultimecia looked at approvingly. For the first time in his life, Leo's better judgment failed him. He knew the moment that it happened, as though he had fallen from a sheer cliff with no means of saving himself. All the self-imposed barriers within his mind came crashing down in that moment.

Hyne, forgive me, Leo thought, as he placed Harbinger on the ground.

He could never presume that Alanis would.