There's no real linear time I'm following. The following scene is when Rosa is captured up at the Tower of Zot, and her thoughts about Kain. Again, I took some liberty and changed some dialogue from the game. If you have any questions, suggestions, or helpful critiques, feel absolutely free to tell me!

Yeah I don't own Final Fantasy anything.

Ruminations

Rosa

Rosa awoke, groggily assessing where she was. It hit her (and not pleasantly at all) very quickly once the pain shot through her body from her arms, shoulders, and neck. Her hands and her arms were more or less numb from being tied up above her head.

Golbez had her hung so her feet could just barely touch the ground. Above her hung a massive blade that could easily cut her in half laterally.

How long had she been here? It felt like an eternity. She could tell without looking that her hands were probably a deathly blue pallor. Disgusting to be sure. If she could just cast a healing spell once in a while, she would be able to restore some circulation and revive her dead limbs.

"Hey."

The man in front of her turned around. This man who was her closest friend and confidant ever since they started playing together as children. But it was only a shell. She called him Kain at first, but now she realized that the Kain she knew was gone, and this person who has possessed him deserved no name.

"What? Worried about Cecil?"

Not again. Rosa rolled her eyes. Yes, of course she's worried about Cecil, but he didn't have to open with that line every single time.

"Look, just let me cast a healing spell so my arms don't die and fall off."

"No."

"I thought you said you wanted to show me how much better you are than Cecil. You're not making me terribly convinced. Especially since even if I casted a healing spell, it's not like I can magically slip out."

That was a lie, and she knew it. If they even gave her an opening to dip into her magical reserves, she would teleport out of here immediately.

"Beautiful... so beautiful... I would do anything for you, but not right now. Not until you realize I'm the one you want, the one you should love. Not Cecil, who doesn't have a single damn bone in his body!"

Rosa kept silent. She had a spat with him the first day when she still didn't quite fully register the fact that this wasn't the Kain she knew. Where was Kain? Was Kain still there? Tears threatened to fall again when she thought she'd cried them all. It was torture to watch one of her oldest, closest friends turn into a monster. She always knew that Kain liked her, but he never once said a thing. He seemed perfectly fine when she started actually dating Cecil in their later teen years. He was still there to support her and laugh with Cecil. She always felt bad, wishing he could find someone for himself to love. Since he was quite the eligible bachelor in Baron, he definitely never lacked for girls who tried to throw themselves his way. But he also never gave them more than a passing acknowledgment.

And now, here was a completely different Kain. She had a yelling session with Golbez, trying to figure out just what he did to Kain, and Golbez only replied that he was Kain, albeit a hidden part of him that has long wanted to come out.

Rosa refused to believe such a crass monster could have any connection with her friend. But...unfortunately, the longer she hung here with nothing else to do but think, she could almost start believing that maybe this was some dark part of Kain that he always kept squirreled away. That didn't make her happy at all. Does this mean he really was like this inside? Except he was just really good at keeping it under a mask of civility?

She needed to get out of here. She was going to destroy her brain ruminating on this so much. She closed her eyes, thinking of Cecil, of his warm smile and his heart of gold. Even after being forced to learn the ways of the dark sword, Cecil still had a certain warmness about him that Kain lacked. Kain always just seemed like her big brother. Ever since they were children, he was the quieter one, the calmer one, the deeper thinker. They were close, but she could never feel the same raw understanding and connection she had with Cecil.

Most of the time, when the man was there, they spent their time in silence. The man that was Kain stood or sat there almost unnaturally still. He would look at her sometimes, but she had an eerie feeling that when she couldn't keep her eyes open, he was free to watch her in a way that made her absolutely furious. Thankfully, the man never touched her except to feed her. And she really would have happily starved than go through those moments. He was too close, too eerie, and whenever he opened his mouth—talked too much. Endless avowals of love, his hatred of Cecil, something about her being perfect and beautiful...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rosa awoke, and shook off the uncomfortable sleepiness. She was alone. Alone?

Then she heard it, there were sounds outside the door. Golbez... and Cecil! Cecil was here! They were fighting, she could tell. Cecil and... Yang? and Cid? She wanted to cry out in happiness until she heard another sound that stopped her heart. There was now a sound of something ticking right above her. It was like one of Cid's bombs, but somehow she knew this had something to do with the blade that had kept her company for so many weeks. She wriggled against the shackles, but it appeared to make the ticking go faster.

She could only stay as still as she could, barely drawing a breath. There were voices outside, she couldn't make them out. But there didn't seem to be any fighting...

Suddenly the door burst open and someone screamed her name. Cecil appeared with his sword, sprinting towards her with a look of terror on his face. In one swipe, he cut the rope and she fell into her arms. A split second later, the blade dropped, chipping the tile floor below it.

"Cecil! You came! What happened to you, you look absolutely marvelous! Oh, Cecil, Cecil, I'm so glad you came!" Tears burst out of her eyes, tears of joy, and maddening relief. Her arms were screaming in pain and she could barely will them to move, but she threw them over Cecil's shoulders anyway, as Cecil held her tightly.

Cecil held her head away from him. "Rosa, are you hurt? Are you alright? You look so pale..."

"I'm a white mage, Cecil, I'll be fine in no time!" Then, she realized that there were other people in the room. Cecil slowly let her go but held her hand, which felt like a bloated appendage.

Her gaze instantly fell on Kain, who was looking away.

"Kain..."

"He's himself again, Rosa. When we defeated Golbez, it broke the spell on him."

"Kain!"

Kain only lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Rosa, I'm so sorry..."

"It's not your fault, it wasn't you—"

"I was conscious, Rosa! I-I was conscious... but I couldn't do a thing... I'm so sorry, Rosa... I know you'll never forgive me..." Kain fell to his knees, trying to keep himself from completely losing himself. "I did... I did always wish for you to be at my side... but not like that... What have I done... the things I said..."

Rosa ran over and hugged him tightly. "I'm just glad you're yourself again, Kain. That man wasn't you—"

"It was still me... I-I don't know what happened, but I know I acted, I said—"

Rosa pulled away slowly, looking at him sadly. "No, Kain, you were taken over by Golbez. There was nothing about that man that was anything remotely like the Kain I know. You're back, and that's all that matters."

Cecil walked over, giving him a hand. "Kain..."

"Cecil, I can't... I can't forgive myself—"

"Take my hand, Kain."

Kain found himself grasping Cecil's hand anyway as his old friend pulled him up to his feet.

"Fight with us, Kain. We'll fight Golbez together."

Rosa managed what she hoped looked like a pure, sincere smile. The man wasn't Kain... It wasn't... But...

As everyone turned to leave, Rosa let her smile drop. She looked at Kain as he walked in front of her with Cecil. She felt sadness and fear that jumped to her throat every time she saw his blue dragoon armor. Kain's come back... he's back... but... I can never look at him the same again...

Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Review!