Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I do not profit from this writing.

Prompt 005

Obsession

They were talking about him. He could hear it.

They're talking about you, you know. About how you're becoming a danger.

He inched closer to the door.

You should put them all out of their misery now. Why wait until later, when they could get the upper hand?

It was Celes' voice he heard first, a thing that stung him.

Disobedient and mouthy doll. You should remove her tongue so she can speak no longer.

He listened.

"Leo, I don't think that you're entirely off-base," she said. He could see a sliver of her through the barely-opened door, a tumble of long blonde hair and a flash of cloth as she moved rather swiftly from one side of the room to the other. She was anxious; she was pacing.

She should be anxious. Treacherous harpy. She should be very nervous, indeed.

"When Gestahl doesn't have him on a short leash, he's always around her. And it's not like before. He isn't studying her anymore; he has no reason to. It's more like he's..." Leo trailed off.

Who has whom on a short leash? Methinks the General has some rather lofty notions of what's really going on in this Empire.

Celes, again. "She adores him, Leo. As much as she's capable – which isn't to say much, but we all see it." Leo made a noise, and she pressed on. "Not like that, no; she... it's hard to explain."

But wouldn't you know?

"Adores? She's terrified of him," the deep voice countered, disgust riddling its tone. "She no more adores him than you do."

"But I did, once. And then – he changed. And he's changing, even still. He's not in control, anymore, Leo. He's – he's lost it." The way she spoke, it didn't sound like she even believed herself, but Kefka knew Celes well enough to know that if she was saying it, she'd given it a lot of thought.

Dolls aren't allowed to think.

"Well, whatever you think we need to do, we need to do it soon. He's obsessed with her, and as much as you know I think this is all wildly absurd, she's got power. If he finds a way to use it, it's not going to end well. For anyone."

Now there, my good man, is an idea.

Celes made a noise of accord. "We need to separate them." She may have been young, but she and Terra were about the same age, and both had matured stupidly fast. Terra would understand. She would have to – she had no choice.

"I'll go find her, then. Bring her to the Emperor. Present our case." Shuffling noises and the volume made Kefka realize that Leo was coming towards the door. Kefka, not too dignified to run, darted down the hall and slipped into a darkened room as the General passed him by.

Every ounce of his being wanted to reach out behind him and slit his throat where he stood, but Kefka couldn't. Leo might still prove useful, yet. Somehow. He just needed time to think – but he was angry, and felt rather justified about it.

Yes, why shouldn't we be? That lying bitch is trying to ruin us. And that idiot is off-base. Terra isn't afraid of us. Terra loves us! Terra needs us. Without us, Terra would have no purpose. We've given Terra a purpose; we absolutely have given her a reason for living.

He knew where Leo was going, and so he went the opposite way, opting for a shortcut to Terra's room. He stopped along the way, to pick up something from his own quarters; something incredibly useful. Something to get his point across.

This is absolutely the only option we have. They've forced our hand, given us no choice. Terra will understand. Terra doesn't have a choice. She's going to be a perfect doll, not like Celes. No, Terra is going to be a perfect doll. Perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect...

When she opened the door, he was waiting for her. For a moment, he saw fear flicker across her eyes, but she seemed resolute not to show it, and instead carefully kept a distance from him.

She is scared of you. She doesn't adore you at all. They were right. They were right. They were right. You must show her the truth; you must show her how only you can set her free, use her for her full potential. You must make her adore you again, so she can be perfect, perfect, perfect...

At the voice rotting in his head, he barely contained a laugh. It came out an odd sound, high-pitched and not unlike an animal. He almost covered his face as the sheer madness raced through his body and blood, settling on his shoulders like a finely worn suit of armor.

"Come here," he said, holding his hand out. "I want to show you something." His words traced the edges of that sound of madness, making him bite down on his lip to break the width of his smile only so he wouldn't spook her off so quickly. Eventually, she reluctantly asks him only what he wants, and he feels as though she's slapped him in the face.

Stupid doll stupid doll questioning asking wondering WHY is she talking she is not allowed to speak we did not give her permission to speak why is she not coming closer we have given her an order why is she not obeying stupid stupid doll stupid doll...

The thoughts in his head that were not his are his, becoming less and less articulate and more violent. And it makes him smile. "You're being difficult," he warned her, his voice sing-song as he raises a finger to shake. His tone dropped off then, rather scary - "Don't make me chase you down, now."

It took convincing, but he finally tricked her with the notion of a gift, playing on her humility and her innocence. Terra was innocent, after all. She'd never known real pain or suffering; she'd felt both but she didn't really know them, didn't understand their full scope of possibilities. As he lowered the slave crown onto her head, he saw that she realized she'd made a mistake, but she either couldn't or wouldn't stop him. She might have even been able to, maybe, in some alternate reality where she didn't trust him and want to believe he wasn't so crazy; she might have even begged him to stop; he didn't know, because he wasn't listening. All he could hear was

PERFECTPERFECTPERFECT DOLL PERFECT DOLL PERFECT WON'T SPEAK WON'T EAT WON'T RUN AWAY WON'T LIE PERFECTPERFECTPERFECTDOLL

"You must come with me at once, darling. I need you to do something for me," he said, holding his hand out to her. She did not acknowledge for a moment, staring straight ahead with her head tilted down and her eyes half-lidded by the fog of the crown. Kefka narrowed his eyes a little, and with a mental tweak, her head snapped up.

A smile spread across her lips; it wasn't any longer the smile reserved for him, but had lost use for such things in his heart what seemed like millenia ago. No, this was an obedient and eager smile, meeting her eyes but only barely, seemingly frozen in place like she were a – a doll. "Of course," she said, her voice melodic and perfectperfectperfect. "Anything."

Leo heard Kefka's maniacal laughter as he approached Terra's room, and his blood ran cold. He had a very strong feeling that this was the beginning of the end; he could put his finger on exactly where it went awry, too, and it all started with that god-damned magic.