Disclaimer/Rant: Oh, this is important: For those of you who have NOT played Final Fantasy VI all the way through, or at all, but HAVE played Kingdom Hearts II? That is NOT Setzer in KH2. It thinks it is but it isn't. Setzer from FFVI is NOT, in my opinion, the unearthly, fey, creepy pretty-boy they portray him as in KH2. Quite apart from the design, the personality is WRONG. He's NOT creepy like that, and he would NOT cheat in a contest just to get a stupid title every year. I doubt he would actually be able to contemplate participating in a sport called "Struggle!" without shuddering. So in reading this, forget KH2 Setzer. I wish I could. To pre-emptively answer flame reviews this rant might spark, I don't have a problem with pretty-boys or gay people or people who act stereotypically gay. I don't have a problem with a game company having a pre-existing character be a cheater. I DO have a problem with them foisting characteristics, these for example, onto a character who did not, in my opinion, have them before. If Gerard from Shadow Hearts: Covenant showed up in a game and wasn't mincing around and hitting on your main male character, I'd have a problem with that, because he is prone to do those things. If Kain from the Legacy of Kain series showed up and gave a long spiel about how cheating is wrong, that'd bug me, too. Continuity. That's the thing. Thanks for bearing with me, if you didn't skip straight to the story. Oh, and the old guy? Mine. Don't steal 'im.

Chapter 4: Fading Away

Setzer slumped against a wall. He'd fended off the woman's attackers, and she'd managed to get away. He, on the other hand, was battered, bruised and bleeding. It seemed that tonight, every thug who didn't know his reputation was in town. With a wry grimace, he singsonged the incantation for the spell Cure to himself. Nothing happened, as expected. The weakest spells had been the first to fade into total uselessness. He chuckled ironically to himself, then winced at the pain. Removing magic from the world had stopped the wars, stopped Kefka's madness – but it had complicated other things. No longer could wounds be closed up with a few words and an effort of will. Specific antidotes to poisons had to be looked up and concocted again, where again a brief incantation would have sufficed. Of course, people could no longer make each other spontaneously combust with a gesture and a word. There was that. Where was Relm?

He had searched almost every alleyway in Zozo, and when he had asked at the pub and the Relic shop, the respective owners had just looked nervous and shifty and shaken their heads. Which was all he expected from them, really. He didn't really know why they stayed here. Sure, punks and thieves liked to drink, and Relics were in high demand, so the money here was good, but how could it be worth the risk? Setzer supposed they had their reasons. But this was not helping him find Relm. He –

A shadow fell across his face, and Setzer looked up. There was a figure at the mouth of the alleyway, silhouetted against the glow of one of Zozo's few street lamps.

"Who –" The gambler cleared his throat, at first having trouble speaking.

"Who are –" Again he stopped, remembering that "who" was a question few people in Zozo were likely to answer, except perhaps with "your worst nightmare, hur, hur," or "the guy what you're givin' your money to." He rephrased.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he snapped.

"I seek the light," replied the figure. Man's voice. Old.

"Right behind you, moth man," said Setzer, getting up painfully, turning to face the other.

"Why don't you go towards it and leave me be?"

"The light. The light," said the other insistently. "Not the streetlamp, fool, the light. You were touched by the light."

"Yeah, that's… um… yeah," said Setzer warily, looking askance at the figure.

"You and them others. Saved the world from the light. Too much light, it burns. But now it's so dark…" There was an emptiness in the man's voice, a need.

Setzer's expression cleared as he understood. "You mean magic."

"Yes, yesss!" The man hissed, coming closer. "You call it magic, your kind. To us… it is the light."

"My kind?" said the gambler, again nervous. "You're no moogle, no sasquatch, no monster. You're the same kind as myself."

"Hah! Look like your kind, yes. Blend in. Easy, like the old man."

"The – "

"Other old man. Met him, you did. Warm stone, then. Cold stone, now. All gone."

Setzer straightened, feeling as well as hearing a crackle in his left leg. Bad news.

"Look, I'm sorry, I DON'T know what you're talking about, and I'd try to help you, but I can't. The magic – okay, the light – is gone, and I don't think it's coming back. And I have something I have to do now."

"Something to do, yes. Find the child. Like you, she glows. Oh, she glows. Touched twice, she was. Before she was born, yes, and after, the stones gifted her anew. The light liked her." The old man came closer, and Setzer saw that his eyes were solidly coloured a faintly luminescent pale blue.

"What – what are you – how?"

"Not my fault! Got too human! Left behind! Last one left, I think, what isn't cold stone! But fading – so dark…"

"You're – no…" gasped Setzer.

"Yes, boy! Slow on the uptake, but you get there! I'm the last Esper in the World!" cackled the man, and glow from his pale eyes flashed momentarily brighter.