Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VI, its characters, or lore.

Seeking Vargas

He worried.

Vargas wasn't acting like himself, and Sabin was worried. After all, they'd grown up together, living and training under Master Duncan's tutelage. They were practically brothers, isolated as they were in the home of their hermit teacher, learning the ways of martial arts day in and day out. They sparred together, ate together, laughed together; for years, basically their entire young lives.

Yet now Master Duncan was dead, and all signs indicated what should have been impossible, that Vargas himself was responsible. Why, though? What could possibly bring the son to kill the father? What reasoning could ever explain such an action? Sabin didn't know, and honestly, he didn't want to, he just wanted to be wrong about this. He wouldn't believe it though, not yet, not until he was sure, not until he had the answer in front of him.

Sadly, Vargas hadn't stuck around to give any answers, and so Sabin held his questions in check, refusing to let himself consider why the man would abandon his dying father's side. Not along with everything else. So he tracked him, following the man to the base of Mt. Kolts, an area he was thankfully familiar with from their training, and a place that Vargas may well remain. Caves honeycombed the mountain, and they'd taken shelter in them many times in the past, hunting down the local wildlife for food and further training... all in better times.

Nostalgia was not what Sabin was there for though, and he took to the mountainside with determination, forgoing the easy walking paths across and through the structure, just as he'd always been taught. He knew that Vargas as well would take such a route; regardless of anything else, the man believed in the teachings they'd studied and pushed himself beyond the limits of a normal man, all in the pursuit of strength. 'Strong heart, strong mind, strong body' taught Master Duncan, drilling such lessons into their heads while their bodies rested and recovered. 'Strength isn't just in those bulky arms' he would say. Master Duncan always did have his favorite sayings...

'Even the most musclebound fool is still a fool!'

'That rock on your shoulders isn't just for show you know!'

'Strength does not make right. Right makes strength.'

Fog began to roll in around him as Sabin pulled himself smoothly up the cliff side, lost in his memories as he moved his body tirelessly onward. Creatures of the area ignored him, barely even spotting him upon the rugged terrain before he'd moved past, similarly unconcerned with them. In his eyes, he saw only those of his friend and sparring partner, eyes that had grown darker with the passing of days. Youthful innocence outgrown, Vargas had developed a spiteful streak, one which Sabin, with his kind heart, had overlooked, and now he forced himself to look back on things. Harsh words he'd taken for mere playful banter, vicious blows he'd thought only over exuberance... Had he really been so blind, or was his grief over his master's loss twisting his perception? He couldn't decide, wouldn't decide, not yet. First, he needed to find Vargas, and then... then he'd sort things out.

On a nearby ledge, Sabin caught side of a brown bear sauntering by, likely off to find a meal, and he remembered the first time he'd come across one with Master Duncan. He'd simply told Sabin to fight it, and he'd thought the man mad, to which his teacher had only laughed boisterously before throwing his student into harms way, literally – he actually 'threw' Sabin in front of the bear. 'It's not the size that matters,' Master Duncan had yelled, responding to Sabin's initial concerns, 'it's the claws you should watch for!' A grin spread across his face then as he recalled that he didn't really remember how that fight had ended, which likely had to do with him failing a dodge and eating a bear paw.

Bears are faster then they look, no joke.

Master Duncan had pulled his backside from the fire that time, but it wasn't the last time a bear became his sparring partner, nor would Vargas be left out of the 'fun', and it became a regular occurrence. Very little strikes fear into a person's heart like an eight foot tall, half ton bear, and thanks to that, the boys quickly learned how to control their own fear, instead of being controlled by it. It did all feel a bit unfair, as the bear would've gladly squashed them but they weren't allowed to really do it harm, but that was just Master Duncan's style, and honestly, Sabin wouldn't have had it any other way.

A rock slipped from his grasp, nearly dropping Sabin down the rock wall and definitely sending his heart up into his throat as he grappled for a hold. The tapping crack of rock on rock echoed in his ears as the piece bounced its way down the mountainside, and he cursed himself for his carelessness as the sound faded away, disappearing down into the fog with its source. A thousand feet up was not the place to be reminiscing.

With renewed focus, he pushed his senses outward rather then inward. Vargas could have been anywhere on the mountain, and though Sabin didn't believe that he'd stay in the lower reaches, it wasn't an impossibility that he'd already passed the man he was searching for, and the thought would've made him flush in embarrassment if anyone else had been around to know. As it was, he merely worked his way toward the actual mountain path, intent on taking his bearings from there. There was little in the way of landmarks going up the mountain, as the path was generally little more then a less rugged, flatter stretch of ground, but as luck would have it, his eyes snagged on a suspension bridge stretched across a break in the path otherwise traversable only by a near vertical sheer of cliff wall. Though a long way off from his current spot, it was an area he knew of, and it meant he was nearing the last stretch of caves before the mountain peak. After that, the mountain spiked upward, basically uninhabitable due to lack of shelter, food, and water.

Satisfied, Sabin moved to enter the nearby caves and nearly missed the movement down by the thin, wooden bridge. Anticipation quickly melted into curiosity as he spotted three moving figures rather then just the one he'd hoped for, but travelers in such an area certainly weren't common. There was almost nothing on the other side of Mt. Kolts, just an empty valley completely encircled within the mountain range. When Master Duncan had determined that his two students needed a long term journey for training, the valley was where they went. Nothing but wild land for miles and miles around. So who...

Sabin's sharp eyes only barely picked out another figure leaping across the cliff side, clearly separate from the trio approaching the bridge. His fists tightened and his blood raced as he strained to pick out the figure through the fog. It took a ridiculous amount of strength and effort to actually jump between handholds while climbing, and it was something even Sabin didn't do without reason.

But Vargas would.

His feet were moving before he even realized it, carrying him down the narrow path. It couldn't have been coincidence to see Vargas and the group of strangers so close together, and if they continued following the path, Sabin knew where they'd end up; it was the perfect place for Vargas to cut them off. Vargas always had to be the best, always had to prove his strength, it was precisely why he pushed himself to leap up a mountain rather then just climb it, and it was why he fought with Sabin constantly – his competitive nature. Or, so Sabin had always assumed, but now, with all the possibilities rolling around in his head, he could only ask himself, 'if' Vargas were capable of killing his own father, what would he do to a bunch of strangers out in the middle of nowhere?

Sabin prayed he was wrong, that Vargas merely wanted to challenge them, once again prove that he was stronger, but he couldn't stop the thoughts going through his head. He couldn't stop thinking of the shadow he'd seen in his friend's eyes. He couldn't stop thinking of the times Master Duncan had forcibly separated Vargas and the bear, to protect the animal, or how Sabin had always ended up with far more injuries from sparring. He couldn't stop thinking of everything he'd ever ignored and overlooked in the past, but he nurtured that hope in his heart that believed in Vargas just as he had for so many years.

Voices echoed through the high, mountain air and Sabin pushed himself faster; he was almost there, and for better or worse, Vargas' actions in the next few minutes could well tell him more then all the questions he could think to ask. The path looped around the cliff just ahead, a bend that brought the path around to overlooking the largest flat area on the mountain, where Sabin had always figured part of the cliff had actually splintered and fell away, and as he slid around that turn, Sabin spotted them, all four of them, right where he expected to see them. Except that Vargas was the only one standing.

His heart dropped. The sound from their words didn't echo clearly enough for him to understand them, but as the seconds slipped by, the situation became apparent. As he feared, Vargas was attacking them, and though they clearly couldn't keep up with the man, Vargas only pushed onward. Sabin felt frozen, torn by his fading hopes and his desire to stop this madness, but when Vargas began a familiar technique, something finally settled in Sabin's heart. Acceptance, as much as he hated it, had found its way in. Vargas was readying to blow three total strangers clear off the edge of the mountain, killing them.

Vargas had killed Master Duncan.

Gritting his teeth, Sabin surged forward, bounding across the rocky cliff nearly faster then he could control. Sadness gripped him, but he refused it, channeling it into anger. As the wind intensified into a near typhoon, a girl's scream cut through the air and he leapt across the remaining distance, desperately hoping he reached her in time. There was no more room for indecision, no more time to waste. Every question had been answered, except one...

Why, Vargas?!

A/N: I really got caught up in this one, hopefully it did the same for you ^_^

And thanks to my reviewers! It's always nice to get them!

Kateface87: Glad you enjoyed them! Short, fast reads can be pretty interesting, even if they do tend to leave you wanting more XD

Valkyrie Celes: Edgar definitely has potential to be more whimsical or serious, so he's fun to write. I'm trying to go through each of the characters, but I've no doubt he'll show up again. And if inspiration strikes, maybe sooner then later. Who knows! And thanks!