Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed! Especially for a first-timer, this really means a lot to me. You guys make my day. :D I've decided to change the chapter titles so that it doesn't give away whose perspective it is. I think it's a little better this way. As for Locke's hair, I haven't even considered that yet, so we'll see what happens when and if it comes up. And Kreskin, don't worry about the Terra-Celes interaction. It'll happen soon enough. :) And thank you very very much for the correction on the previous chapter and the suggestion on the punctuation thingy! Too bad it still didn't work though... :( But for the suggestion, you get your reward. :D

:Gives Kreskin some cookies and a glass of milk:

Disclaimer: See first chapter 1.

Chapter 2: Double or Nothing

He heard me. He must have. It was too loud for him to not have noticed. I breathed softly, trying hard not to move or make another unwanted sound. I knew it was my fault for being here, but it wasn't exactly like I had planned for this to happen.

My entire body ached from being scrunched up in this unnatural position for so long. My arms, which were now full of netting marks from the hammock, were folded under my neck, my body was flat, and my legs were crossed to leave room for Gau, who was sprawled out in an awkward arrangement at the other end, with limbs hanging loosely through the netting holes. Why was I here instead of in the comforts of my bed in my room? Well, to make a long story short, there had been a lot of complaints about my snoring as of late. A lot of complaints.

But seriously, could they really hear it through the walls? I don't snore that loud, do I?

Anyway, as a result, I was kicked out of my room. And by "kicked out of my room," I mean I decided to give everyone some peace and quiet by sleeping in the guest lounges tonight. In retrospect, that didn't turn out to be such a great idea. I pulled myself onto the hammock to catch a quick snooze, and Gau had decided to follow me and do the same, for whatever reasons unknown to me. The boy was out cold within minutes, but before I could get comfortable, I heard Edgar and Celes walk into the adjacent room. I contemplated leaving and giving them some privacy when I heard Edgar say, "Here, this is probably better for you than anything you were going to put in your system." Needless to say, that didn't sound too healthy, and I didn't want to kill their conversation mood or whatever, so I stayed still. I heard everything they talked about, and I felt quite guilty for it.

On a side note, if I could hear their conversation this clearly, then the claims about my snoring being as loud and obnoxious as Kefka's laughs were probably not as farfetched as I first believed. But really now, regardless of all that, what a horrible, horrible analogy...

I finally heard Edgar say that he was going to give her some time alone, and I heard his footsteps moved toward the door, undoubtedly on his way to go find Locke. At that time, I knew a confrontation with Celes was inevitable because I didn't want to overhear another conversation that I wasn't supposed to, which meant I had to leave very soon, before Locke arrived. And leaving would mean making myself known.

However, I was hoping that I'd escape Edgar's attention. I had relaxed slightly when I heard that he was leaving, but just a mere soft sigh like that had disturbed the hammock, and the hinges creaked as a result. I heard him pause suddenly, and I knew that he had noticed. Now that's two people that I'll have to explain myself to. I thought for a moment and laughed silently to myself. No, actually, it's still only one person.

"He doesn't understand," Celes muttered, seemingly to herself.

I chuckled and decided that it was now or never. "You don't think so?" I spoke up.

I heard a loud stomp, most likely her jumping to her feet at my sudden interjection, and then nothing.

"Over here," I called out again after another few seconds of silence.

Her heels clicked lightly toward the wall separating her room and mine. "Who's there?" she asked as she peered through the "window" from the other side. Her eyes widened a little. "Sabin?"

"Sorry if I startled you."

She hesitated a little and shook her head. "It's all right."

I shifted my weight, causing the hammock to rock slightly from side to side and thus making the supporting hinges creak ominously. She winced at the sound as she glanced up, and I watched her eyes shift from me to Gau and back to me again. A faint smile of amusement showed on her lips, but it quickly melted into a frown and her brows wrinkled disapprovingly.

"How long have you been here?" she asked firmly.

I paused to think about how to answer as I adjusted my position again. The ominous creaking sounded once more. "Since you two went in," I admitted reluctantly. "But to my defense, I was here first."

She paused and blinked a few times. "Excuse me?" she asked, almost in disbelief at my childish comment.

"N-Never mind," I rubbed my forehead. "That came out wrong." I grabbed onto a metal bar hanging from the ceiling and pulled myself up and out of the hammock, trying hard not to disturb Gau too much. "What I meant to say was, I wasn't there to spy on you two," I said as I walked out of my room and into hers.

She was about to say something, but then stopped when she noticed little netting marks imprinted on my arms and hands.

I smiled sheepishly and flipped my arms over to show her the full marks. "Believe me, holding that position wasn't easy."

"No one asked you to hold any position."

"I know," I said, leaning against the wall. "But it seemed important, and I didn't want to interrupt anything. You know, like kill the atmosphere or something. You heard how loud those hinges were."

She sighed and looked away.

"I'm sorry, Celes," I said as I scratched the back of my head. "Anyway, just thought I'd come over to apologize and explain myself."

She glanced at me and turned away once more.

I wasn't too used to the silent treatment, but I figured that I'd at least finish everything I wanted to say. "And the thing with Edgar, I heard you say that you don't think he understands, but..."

She cut me off with a stifled laugh and looked up with a skeptical grin. "You don't have to plead your brother's case. I know that you probab—"

"I'm not pleading his case, Celes," I interrupted, "I just wanted you to know that you have people you can trust. I know you had to be strong for your troops in the elite Imperial army, but Edgar had to be strong for a king and queen-less country on the verge of collapse."

She didn't reply, and I didn't bother to look up at her reaction.

"Both our parents were killed by the Empire, poisoned, and neither Edgar nor I wanted the throne. The kingdom was a mess; people didn't care about the deaths of their monarchs, but they were all interested in who the next successor should be and what benefits we would receive if we allied with the Empire." I took a deep breath. Just thinking about this still made my blood boil. I sighed and calmed my voice. "Edgar and I talked about abandoning Figaro for our freedoms many times, but when it came down to it, he was never able to bring himself to do that. Too much blood and sweat had been shed for Figaro, he said, and he couldn't bear to watch it crumble. In the end, he sacrificed his own freedom, his own life, for the sake of this war-sick realm and its ungrateful people. To this day, it's still a mystery to me how he managed to pull through with this one, but he did it. He brought everyone together. Things returned to the way they were back in the peaceful days. And now, well, you've seen the results." I finally looked over at Celes. She was standing still, her eyes fixed on the floor. I suddenly felt uncomfortable, and I hoped that I hadn't offended her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so..." I rubbed the back of my neck again and decided to stop before I made things worse. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that you can trust my brother, that's all." Then I quickly added, "But don't tell him I said that." I didn't know why I always felt a need to tag on that last part. It seemed almost reflexive now. "I'll... see you around, Celes." I sighed heavily and turned to leave.

"Sabin," she called out softly and I looked back at her. "...Tell Edgar I said thanks."

A smiled slowly spread across my face and I nodded, then exited the room.

Well, so much for giving everyone some peace and quiet. I stretched as I began walking toward the bedroom chambers on the other side of the airship. I just hope that Setzer won't carry through with his threat of throwing me off the ship.

Light footsteps sounded from the narrow corridor, and Locke emerged from the walkway. We stared at each other for a moment, as if both surprised by the other's presence. He nodded at me and I smiled weakly back at him. He then hurriedly walked past me toward the guest lounges. My eyes followed him for a bit. Edgar's doing, no doubt. I turned back around and walked through the bar and then headed up the stairs to the deck.

The sun had set, the moon was out, but the stars had yet to arrive. I took a deep breath and decided to wait for a bit. I had never considered myself much of a stargazer, but even back when I was training with Duncan, I remember lying on the roof of my little hut, doing the same thing—waiting for the stars.

A few points of light were finally beginning to emerge.

Perhaps they helped me find my inner peace. Perhaps they reminded me of all the good things in life. Edgar and I used to stand on the highest tower of Figaro Castle to watch the night sky, back in the day...

Maybe that's why I love the stars so much.

I blinked a few times and looked down from the celestial bodies. A tall figure on the opposite end of the ship suddenly caught my eye. He was leaning toward the railings, also gazing up at the heavens. He looked at me as I walked toward him and we smiled at each other. I rested my arms on the railings next to him, and he turned back to the firmament above.

"You heard our conversation." It wasn't a question.

I smiled faintly, not surprised at his acknowledgement. "I didn't mean to overhear."

He looked at me and smiled in reply.

Without another word, we both returned our attention to the sky again. He was bothered by something, I could tell, but I couldn't identify what. I suppose I could have asked him, and he probably would have told me, but I felt like I should respect his privacy. Much time passed, but neither of us noticed.

"What are you doing out here at this hour?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Same as you, I suppose. I see you out here every night, watching the stars."

I nodded without turning. "Why didn't you ever join me?"

He paused. "Have you decided where you're going to go after all of this?" he asked, ignoring my question.

I sighed and lowered my head. "You want me to return to Figaro... But I can't."

"Why not? It's your home."

"It was my home, before I abandoned it, before I abandoned you. I don't deserve to live there."

"That's nonsense. We decided to choose our paths with no regrets, remember?"

"But Edgar, that's..."

"Besides, I could really use some help getting the guards into shape," he said smiling.

I tried to smile back, but I couldn't do it. "I'm sorry," I wanted to say, but for some reason, those words just wouldn't leave my mouth. He looked at me when I remained silent.

"Don't worry about it, Sabin." He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "You do what you want, but make sure you give me a heads up, okay?"

I nodded hesitantly. "Brother, I've been meaning to ask you about something."

Edgar smiled and laughed silently, as if he had been expecting it. He reached into his pocket, searched around, and revealed a gold coin. "This, right?"

"Where did you get it?"

He flipped it a few times between his fingers and then handed it to me. "From Haepheston, our blacksmith," he answered slowly. "After mom died."

I grimaced. The coin suddenly seemed to weigh a lot more than just a few ounces. I looked down to examine it—Edgar's profile was imprinted on one side, and mine was on the other.

"I remember this one time, mom and dad were arguing about how Figaro should handle the offered alliance with the Empire. She said that if we refused, then the Empire would kill us, but if we joined, then we would kill ourselves. It was a lose-lose situation." A cold breeze blew by and he closed his eyes with a sigh. "She chose the more dignified option of the two and publicly rejected the alliance. And the Empire killed her."

My fist closed tightly around the coin until my palm hurt.

"How old were we back then? Nine? Well, anyway, dad tried to remain neutral after that to protect us and our people. He said that this could buy us time, and perhaps, it could increase our chance of survival. Unfortunately, neutrality wasn't good enough for the Empire. Though they kept us alive, they made our lives a living hell. I cursed fate for being so cruel to us. I hated how we always got the short end of the stick. I went to Haepheston one day and asked him to forge me a coin where both sides were heads, so that no matter what happens, I'll always win." He laughed a little. "Silly, isn't it? At first, I never even considered that on the flip side, if tails were called, I'd always lose. It was more of a double-edged sword."

"Brother..."

"I carried the coin with me everywhere, even after I realized that it could guarantee a loss, because it reminded me that if I took charge of a situation, regardless of how bad it was, I could always emerge a winner."

I didn't know what to say. I stared at the coin in my hand and sighed. "Is that how you managed to rebuild Figaro?"

He chuckled. "I'm sure it helped, but I attribute most of the credit to Lady Luck, who was with me all the way through that one."

"Edgar, I... I'm..." I'm sorry. But it just wouldn't come out. My eyes burned and I shook my head in frustration. "It's just... If I had stayed..."

"If you had stayed," Edgar cut in, sounding very serious, "then you would have been miserable. And that would have made me miserable as well. Besides," he turned toward me with a grin, "even if we used a normal coin, the outcome would have been the same. My side landed up."

I grinned back. He was right; the side with my brother's profile did land up that night. I remembered being curious about the coin and wondered why it had his face on it, but I never questioned it, and it most certainly had never even occurred to me that it would be a double headed coin. "Oh, so you're heads and I'm tails?"

"Well, of course! I'm your older brother!"

"Who made up a ridiculous rule like that?" I rolled my eyes.

"Hey now, my coin, my rule," he grinned broadly. "If you're not content, then go make your own where both sides are tails."

We both threw our heads back and laughed toward the sky.

I hadn't realized until now, but countless stars covered the blackness above. It was beautiful. Mesmerizing. These were the nights that I remembered from my childhood. Ever since then, I'd always look up at these myriad diamonds in the sky for comfort, because I knew that somewhere else in the world, Edgar was looking at them, too.

I sighed. Maybe I should return to Figaro. I missed my brother's company, and I had to make it up to him somehow for being absent for so long.

"Well, it is getting quite late. I think I'm going to retire to bed," Edgar said as he pushed himself away from the railings and straightened his cape. "Try to keep the snoring down a little tonight, eh?" he winked at me jokingly.

I laughed and scratched my head. "I'll do my best."

He patted me on the back. "Good boy."

"Hey!" I gave him a shove, which almost knocked him off his feet. I always did forget my size and strength when came to joking around with people. "I'm not a little boy anymore!" I put my hands on my hips and flashed a big grin.

Edgar rolled his eyes. "If you say so, little bro."

I laughed and handed the coin back to him.

He shook his head. "Keep it."

"But brother..."

"Take good care of it. If and when you decide to come back to Figaro, that'll be your pass to get in, so make sure you hold on to it."

I hesitated, but then nodded slowly.

"Good." He smiled approvingly. "All right, I'm heading out. In. Whatever." He shook his head. "Well, good night, Sabin."

"Night."

He turned and began walking away, cape billowing behind him.

"Wait, Edgar," I called when I remembered something.

He looked back.

"Celes says thanks."

He smiled in reply and then turned to leave again.

I stayed still for a few moments and thought about what I wanted to do. Maybe I could return to Figaro... I'll have to think it through carefully. I stretched my arms and yawned out loud. There was no hurry though. We still had quite a few more days before we were to be dropped off. In the mean time, I really should go get some rest as well. With one last glance up at the sparkling white flames in the sky, I left the deck for some well deserved rest and relaxation in my room.