Final Fantasy IV: The Novel

by Celes Chere

Based on the storylines of Final Fantasy IV DS & FFIV: The After Years, this is the story of Cecil Harvey, a dark knight whose journey for redemption draws himself, his best friend Kain and his lover Rosa into a dangerous battle for their planet.

5. Act Five: The Betrayal

Act Five: The Betrayal

"Cecil…"

Cecil was racing through a moonlight-drenched chamber, towering ivory arches piercing an infinite scatter of starlight that stretched over velvet-blue like a web of diamonds. He didn't know what he was running from – or to – everywhere he looked, he could only see his fleeing reflection in the mirrored columns, haunted pools of cerulean pursuing his every movement. His armor was stripped away from his black cotton doublet and breeches, the echo of his bare feet smacking the crystal-flecked tiles punctuating each harried step.

But over and over, no matter how far he ran, the nostalgic voice called his name like a heartbeat, and never any nearer.

Why…why can't I remember…? Cecil's temples began to throb as he swept under another archway, only to be greeted with miles and miles of the same crystalline chill on the other side. A name, a face, a look…all of the clues pointing to the voice's owner that had bubbled up to the surface of his brain were drenched in shadows that refused to be dispelled, even as it began to grow heavy with desperation.

"Cecil…where are you?"

"I'm here!" Cecil cried, his screams fading into nothingness – it felt as if his lungs were about to burst. "I'm right here!"

Call to me again…say my name…I'll remember…I have to remember!

A shooting pain suddenly penetrated his feet, racing up his legs and lighting his nerve endings aflame. Cecil's scream caught in his throat as he fell forward, a series of stinging lacerations slicing open over his exposed skin as he collided with the floor.

"W-What…?" Cecil gasped aloud, tears stinging behind his eyes as he forced himself to roll over, only to be greeted with another blistering wave of pain on his back. He shakily brushed his hand over his chest, feeling something chilled and razor-sharp embedded within one of his wounds. With gritted teeth, he yanked out the offending shrapnel, holding it over his face as he struggled to focus his vision through the overwhelming pain.

It was a bloodstained crystal shard, undulating with a silent light that made his heart twist tortuously in his chest with each labored breath. He forced himself to sit up, wincing as he glanced over his shoulder and felt more needle-like digs encroach his flesh.

Shattered crystals were now spilled everywhere, an accumulation of glittering debris that glinted threateningly in the moonlight like a million dismembered eyes; and the skies above had been submerged into pure obsidian, a darkness so impenetrable that Cecil could feel his pulse paling just by looking at it.

What am I supposed to do? Cecil thought, his mind spinning as he gingerly pulled one mangled foot into his lap. Just the scent of his own blood pooling on the floor was enough to fill the back of his throat with rising bile. As he took hold of the largest of the shards, wishing he had something to keep himself from biting off his own tongue from the pain, the voice drifted into his ear once more, the despondent plea taking on a whisper of sadistic contempt that turned Cecil's blood to ice in his veins.

"Cecil, Cecil, Cecil… Is it really so easy to forget me?"

---

"Nrg…ARGH!" Cecil suddenly and violently kicked away his blankets and shot up in bed, sweat dripping down his forehead and back. He glanced around the room, inhaling and exhaling slowly and deliberately so that his heart wouldn't explode inside of his chest while he gradually reacquainted himself with his surroundings.

I'm back here again…the Kaipo inn.

Someone had opened all of the shades in the room, welcoming in scores of sunlight gifted by the new day. The two beds next to him were empty, both properly made right down to the pillows being fluffed and their corners pinched to perfection. His bed, on the other hand, he noted as he glanced down in shame, looked as if a tornado had struck – half of the sheets were on the floor, the other half pooling at his feet when he had woken up and kicked them away. His pillow was drenched in perspiration, and even his clothes were contorted like twisted chains on his body – he realized with a start as he straightened his shirt that they had been the same exact clothes he had been wearing in his dream. His armor had been abandoned in the corner; Cecil could recall hardly being able to peel off his last gauntlet before collapsing into bed the night before.

But now that he was awake, the fog that had obstructed his dreaming self's memory had been burned away by the light of day – the face that filled his mind as he recalled those tortured cries for help was one that he could never forget in a million years – a face that he had seen every time he closed his eyes since that horrible morning in Mist.

Kain…

Was it too much to hope that if Kain had made it to Damcyan, that he had managed to make his escape before the Red Wings' bombardment? Edward hadn't mentioned that a Baronian Dragoon had visited since his and Anna's return – surely as the heir to the throne, he would have at least been cognizant of such an event, even if he was in the middle of trying to pull off an elopement.

He has to be alive, Cecil frowned, clutching the sheets so hard that his knuckles turned white. But if he wasn't in Damcyan, and he's not in Kaipo…then where did he go?

"Good morning, Cecil!" a singing voice called out, and Cecil's spell of concentration popped like a soap bubble. He lifted his head just Rosa glided into the room with all the elegance of a daydream come to life. Her physical appearance had taken a total one-eighty from the day before, so much so that Cecil hardly recognized her as the same sickly girl who could barely lift her head without coughing. Her hair was luscious and shiny again, spilling over her shoulders with the rest pulled into a half-ponytail that was topped with a bun, her crystal tiara fastened at the crown. A golden headband set with an ancient ruby that Cecil knew had been passed down for generations within her family hung from her forehead, matching earrings dangling from her ears and swinging with each energetic step. She was wearing a pink silk bustier leotard, an oversized leather belt around her waist to carry medicine and a quiver of arrows, white knee-high leather boots trimmed with protective jewels, and flowing pink and white gossamer capes that hung from scalloped ivory shoulder plates, framing her arms like an ocean's wave that had been frozen in time.

She's the reincarnation of the goddess of the hunt, Diana, Cecil smiled slightly, despite himself. Somehow, she looked even more elegant in her desert-worn travel gear than even in the most tailored gown in her wardrobe back home.

Rosa smiled back and shrugged off the bow she had slung over her shoulder, sitting at the edge of Cecil's bed. Paying no mind to the mess, she handed him a small package. Her wrists were wrapped in beautiful pink silk bracers that brought out the natural flush in her cheeks. "I got this for you in town – as a little thank you for…well, everything."

It's thanks enough that you're by my side again, was what Cecil wanted to say, but it suddenly felt as if his tongue had swollen to three times its normal size inside his mouth. All he could manage was a strangled "T…Thanks…" as his fingers brushed over hers to receive the gift. He pulled away the twine that was holding the wrapping together, watching the paper fall apart like the petals of a blossoming lotus. Inside was a single pearl earring, white as pure moonlight.

"For your pierced ear – I noticed you haven't been wearing anything in it lately," Rosa explained, taking the earring out of the box and pushing back Cecil's hair so she could put it in. "It's supposed to raise your vitality as well…an old wives' tale, I'm sure, but we need all the help we can get, right?"

Cecil averted his gaze as she pushed the post through his piercing, wondering if she could hear the way his heart was pounding against his chest. Just the touch of her fingertips on his earlobe made him feel like he was about to spontaneously combust.

Why are you delaying the inevitable? a small voice inside of him hissed. No relic on this planet is going to save you from what you've become.

"I remember you boys had that silly dare to see who could stay on that wild chocobo the longest, and the loser had to get his ear pierced by the other," Rosa laughed, clicking the fastener into place. "Kain did a good job on you though, didn't he?" She sat back, smoothing some of his hair away to get a better look. "Perfect – it suits you very well!"

Cecil could feel a blush crawling from his chest all the way up to his eyes as her breath tickled his ear. How am I supposed to convince Rosa I'm too dangerous for her if my body betrays me every time she's near?

But Rosa's casual mention of Kain was a sobering reminder about the nightmares that had plagued him all night. He turned back to her, watching as her smile faded when their eyes met. Rosa had always claimed Cecil gave away his truest emotions in his gaze, which he hadn't entirely believed until perhaps that very moment.

"Rosa, have you seen Kain since you arrived in Kaipo?"

She blinked as if he had spoken in tongues. "No, of course not – I haven't seen him since you two left Baron together." She bit down on her lip, gently taking hold of Cecil's forearm. "I was under the impression when I did not see him with you that you two had already split up to protect the crystals – since you knew of Golbez."

"No," Cecil murmured, his mind racing as rose from the bed, drifting toward the water basin. "Our separation was hardly voluntary." He could see Rosa's eyes boring into him in the mirror, her mouth open in shock, as he poured water into the basin and cupped some in his hands, splashing it over his face. "We got separated during the earthquake in Mist, and I haven't seen him since. When I woke up, it was just myself and Rydia – she was badly hurt, and I raced to Kaipo to find her shelter. Later that night, we were ambushed by Ashby's men…"

"No!" Rosa gasped. "Why would General Ashby have come looking for you if the king thought you were dead…?"

"Because the king merely wanted everyone to think I was dead," Cecil spat, proceeding to bend over the basin and pour the rest of the water over his head. "It all makes sense, now – with myself and Kain out of the picture, there would be no objection to anyone taking our places."

I would bet every gil in my (most likely now-liquidated) accounts that even if I had cooperated with Ashby, I wouldn't have made it back to Baron to plead my case – surely another "accident" would have occurred before reaching Baron's shores…

"'Anyone' being Golbez," Rosa muttered.

"Right." Cecil massaged the water into his scalp, feeling the rage intensifying in his chest by the second at how thoroughly he had been strung along. "It was when Rydia and I departed to search for the sand pearl to cure your fever that we witnessed Damcyan's destruction at the hands of the Red Wings. Edward's entire family was killed before his eyes – including his fiancée. That was how I learned of Golbez. And you know the rest of the story from there."

"My god…" Rosa shook her head in disbelief. "And now Kain remains missing…"

"We can only pray he hadn't made his way to Damcyan when the bombing happened," Cecil frowned. "I wouldn't trust Ashby as far as I could throw him, but he seemed genuinely perplexed that Kain wasn't with me – that could mean he's still on the run, right...?"

If Ashby was smarter, he could have at least lied and said Kain was back in Baron to lure me home...

"Kain is like a brother to you," Rosa sighed. "If you believe he's still alive, then it simply must be so. It's what I feel in my heart as well – but oh gods, it doesn't make the ache any less biting. I-I miss him terribly." Cecil could feel a muscle twinge in his jaw as he lifted himself away from the basin, his soaked hair falling over his face like a curtain as he glared at himself in the mirror.

Coward! You still can't even bring yourself to tell her what happened in Mist…!

"Rosa…when we do find Kain…I want you to promise me something."

"Huh?"

"That no matter what happens – no matter what danger we may face as we pursue the crystals – that you'll stay close to Kain's side, and let him protect you. Even if it means the only option is you two making an escape and leaving me behind – I want you to do it, without any hesitation. Do we have an understanding?"

"…What?" Rosa slowly rose to her feet, and Cecil could hear her earrings ringing with a forlorn chime as she took a few hesitant steps toward the basin. "How could you ever…ever ask me to do something like that?"

Cecil pretended not to hear her and squeezed his eyes shut, willing his heart not to break any more than it already was. He could practically hear it cracking in his chest with each hollow beat – it was the same sound the crystal shards had made as they crunched under his feet in his nightmare.

It's for the best… Please, Rosa, why can't you open your eyes and see?

"Cecil!" Rosa whimpered, taking another step forward. Cecil heard the swish of her capes brushing over her ankles, and knew that if she laid even a single finger upon him, everything that he hated about himself – all of his sins, his weaknesses, his failings – would come retching out of him at once – and then surely, she would hate him too.

Isn't it enough that I can never fully give myself to her? Will my debt only be paid when she resents my very existence? Is that what it will take to save her?

"Don't think I've forgotten what you said to me the other night," Rosa said softly. "It may be so easy for you to just walk away from us, but I still lo—"

Don't say it! Cecil cringed. The knife in his chest twisted ever deeper. Easy? You think any of this is easy!?

Suddenly, the bedchamber door slammed open, and thundering footsteps came barreling inside. Rosa cut herself off as a tiny pair of arms wrapped themselves around her long legs, nearly knocking her over.

"Rosa, here you are!" Rydia exclaimed, seemingly having already forgotten their little altercation from the night before. "I thought you were still at the Covington's place. I stopped by to get you, but they said you had already gone."

"I awoke early and wanted to say good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Covington in my own way by making them breakfast," Rosa fastened on a smile as she turned her back to Cecil, much to his relief – now he could at least focus on washing himself without agonizing over every way he was managing to crush Rosa's heart. "And then I did some quick shopping – we must have just missed each other!"

Covington…that must have been the name of the family that rescued her, Cecil closed his eyes as he tilted his head and began to nonchalantly wring out his hair over the basin. I was in such a flux to be with her again that I didn't even bother to ask…

"Well, they gave me lots of snacks for later!" Rydia said, opening her backpack to show off her stash, to which Rosa nodded appreciatingly.

"Oh, Rydia…there you are," a tired Edward moaned from the doorway. "You have so much energy – please don't run so far ahead next time…"

"Edward, you look as if you've seen a ghost," Rosa gently chided, and Cecil opened one eye to peer at Edward's reflection in the mirror. Yikes – he's got bigger bags under his eyes than a traveling merchant, and he's gone from white to practically transparent. "Did you sleep OK last night?"

"Oh, Lady Rosa – I'm normally this pale, I assure you," Edward forced a delicate laugh. "It's just been a rough few days…I will be fine, I promise." Rosa nodded and patted him on the shoulder, with Rydia still attached to her leg.

"Just let me know if you need anything, Edward. I know you have suffered a devastating loss." He nodded, smiling slightly, and she turned to Cecil, one brow raised and her voice all-business – it seemed as if their chat was going to be put on permanent hiatus, for which he couldn't be more grateful. "Cecil, are we to depart soon?"

"Yes, we'll leave right now," Cecil replied, abandoning his post at the basin and gently brushing past her to get to his armor – she took a step back as if to purposely avoid touching him, and Rydia peered up at the two of them suspiciously. That seemed to be an awfully quick about-face from Cecil's incessant mooning over Rosa's bedside last night – interesting.

Sometimes, Rydia felt as if she had nothing to do but watch the grown-ups around her flounder about helplessly – the same was true even when she lived in Mist. Adults seemingly had a way of making everything in their lives far more complicated than it needed to be – she wondered why that was.

As Cecil got dressed, Edward unfurled a map borrowed from Rydia's backpack. Rosa peered over his shoulder, silently extending her hand toward Cecil without looking at him as he gave her back the bow she had left on his bed. "Edward, do you know the way to Mount Hobs?"

"I certainly do, and I'll be happy to drive," Edward said, tapping the map over a mountain range that had been sketched on a stretch of land bridging Damcyan and a more heavily forested area of the continent. "It's been a long while since I've been to Fabul, but the journey should be fair. I've never had any trouble crossing the mountain path, myself."

"Because you had lots of bodyguards?" Rydia asked, and Edward flinched, rolling up the map.

"Er, yes, but…"

"Cecil is a great bodyguard," Rosa smiled tersely. "You've nothing to fear."

She doesn't realize Edward is the one who saved my hide in our last battle, Cecil inwardly groaned. Here's hoping he doesn't have to do an encore…

---

Outside of Kaipo, the group climbed into the hovercraft. Rydia was keen to reprise her role as navigator from when Cecil had asked her to assist in the Kaipo Desert, and insisted on sitting up front with Edward and the map. Cecil and Rosa exchanged discomforted grimaces as they both reached for their lap belts at the same time on the rear bench, Cecil being the first to make a hasty retreat until Rosa was finished.

This is ridiculous, Cecil thought. It's like I'm thirteen all over again – and she's being as stubborn as ever. He couldn't help but glare at the back of Rydia's head from the safety of his helmet, wondering if she had done this on purpose.

But Rydia had her own angst to drudge through as she obsessively poured over the map, her voice occasionally cracking into another octave as she "helpfully" gave Edward directions for a route he had had memorized since he was a child. Edward dutifully nodded in acknowledgement, while Cecil and Rosa sat in stony silence, twin statues turned slightly away from one another with their arms crossed so that the greatest amount of space possible hung between them. Rydia was desperate to fill the awkward silence in the hovercraft with any kind of noise – even if it was just her own voice – to keep herself from screaming out of frustration.

Maybe the ice will be gone… Please, let it be gone! Rydia silently prayed to whoever out there might be listening. Mommy, Titan, Chocobo…s-someone!

But alas, lady luck had forsaken her. As if someone had cast "Haste" upon their vehicle, it seemed only minutes into her desperate prayers that Rydia felt the chill of the mountain fall over her seat, drenching her in a cloak of gray. Cecil didn't like the way the atmosphere surrounding the mountain range seemed to suddenly warp into twisted, bruised clouds that loomed as far the eye could see, sinking carelessly into the cragged peaks and obscuring the summit. As they exited the hovercraft, their feet crunching over the spray of rocks and branches from dead trees that could have only fallen from the mountainside, Cecil could detect the slightest hint of something earthen and sweet in the air – a storm was definitely coming.

Edward guided them to a mild slope that was tightly packed with iron-flecked gravel and flint, the only hint that this was the road they wanted being a long-neglected wooden post that had a barely-legible carving indicating that Fabul was to the east – Cecil had to trace his fingers over the letters to properly read them. And sure enough, only several yards into their journey, they were greeted by a thick wall of ice that had been erected between the two slopes the pass sliced through, heeding them no further progress. Cecil pressed his palms against the obstruction, wincing as the biting chill seeped through his gauntlets, and knocked in a few areas that looked to be vulnerable from cracking. However, not a thing happened except for the steady 'tick, tick' ringing out from his knuckles rapping the ice.

"How did this happen?" Cecil asked.

"It's hard to say…um…knowing what we do now, perhaps it happened when the, erm, Crystal of Water went missing…" Edward trailed off, staring down at his feet. Learning that Cecil had somehow played a part in the crystal's disappearance made him wonder if Mysidia had suffered similarly to Damcyan – Cecil had seemed aghast at the Red Wings' violence, which helped Edward harbor the hope that perhaps Mysidia's fate had not been as dire. But he would never in a million years ever be able to bring himself to ask Cecil about it, and was about to break into hives just even mentioning it for fear of what Cecil might say. He meekly finished his thoughts by mumbling "The elements shifting out of balance, and such…it's a real possibility."

"I see…" Cecil muttered, pulling his hand away. Could it really be that the planet itself is already turning against us because of our actions?

"Rydia," Rosa cooed, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Will you please try to cast Fire?"

"Uh…" Rydia shook her head quickly, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Rydia?" Edward tilted his head. "Is something the matter?"

"You can do it, I know you can!" Rosa encouraged. Rydia suddenly stomped her foot and threw Rosa's hands off of her, whirling around in a huff.

"It's not because I can't! It's because I don't want to."

Rosa's eyes widened, but she didn't yet back down – now they seemed to be getting somewhere.

"…You don't want to?"

"I…I HATE fire!" Rydia screeched, tears springing to her eyes. She wanted to bolt back to the hovercraft before any of them could tell her what a baby she was being, how she was so selfish and weak, but Cecil, Rosa and Edward were all blocking her only path to retreat, as if they could read her mind.

This is all my fault, Cecil frowned, his gaze piteous behind his helmet. The gods forgive me for what I've done to this poor child… I could never hope to move past the pain I've inflicted upon her, yet each day forward seems to serve up a reminder written in blood…

He looked to Rosa, who was now kneeling at Rydia's side, trying to soothe her. Rydia refused to look at the white mage, her arms wound tightly across her chest as she impatiently tapped her foot.

Rosa…I'm sorry – this wasn't how I wanted to confess – but Rydia doesn't deserve to suffer our frustrations like this.

Cecil stepped forward, motioning for Rosa to back off. "Her village was burned to the ground by the ring we delivered," he said softly. "The earthquake was only the aftermath of the destruction we had already wrought. King Baron's true objective was to eliminate every summoner in Mist…and she is the only survivor."

Rosa bit her lip as she looked up at Cecil, clenching her hands against her knees to hide her trembling.

Cecil…how could anyone on this planet be so cruel as to use you like this again? Why would King Baron allow himself to force you to spill yet more innocent blood, even after you confided to him that Mysidia had left your heart with unease?

There was so much Rosa suddenly wanted to say – oh gods, why hadn't Cecil just told her all of this before? – but she recognized now was not the time.

Cecil pressed against the slope not yet covered in ice, closing his eyes. He could feel it starting already – the slow, deliberate drain on his lifeforce as the darkness worked itself into a frenzy that made his heart race – something putrid and contaminated inside of him was reveling in his degradation, whispering in his ear that this was everything he deserved for his sins against Mysidia and Mist – and for still not ensuring the safety of his very best friend – wherever he might be.

Forgive me, Kain and Rosa…

The look on her face…what could she be possibly thinking about me right now?

Tearing her gaze away from Cecil, Rosa turned back to Rydia, hesitantly resting her hand on the little girl's shoulder. "Please, Rydia... Listen to me. You're the only one among us with the power to melt this ice." Rydia sniffled obnoxiously, freeing her arms just for a moment to use her wrap as a handkerchief. Rosa grabbed the girl's snotty hand when she was done, peering up at her with pleading eyes. "We can't make you do it. But unless we make it through here to Fabul, a lot of other people will be hurt. I know it's not easy, Rydia, but please...you must be brave!"

"We all must," Edward offered, kneeling down as well and taking her other hand. "That's what you – and Anna – have taught me."

Rydia closed her eyes, hiccuping. She could do this, couldn't she? Couldn't she be brave like Prince Edward was when he had to leave Anna? And Edward is being so much nicer to me about it than I was to him… She grimaced when she thought about how she had told him off while he had been bawling his eyes out.

"Please, Rydia!" Rosa urged.

"You are the only one who can do this!" Edward added. Rydia looked from Rosa, to Edward, and finally to Cecil. He felt a strange ripple of warmth in his chest, like he somehow just knew he was being watched, and lifted his gaze, only to see her staring at him with a dam of tears lining her eyes. He raised the visor on his helmet, cerulean meeting emerald, and Rydia drew in a sudden, sharp breath, swallowing back a sob.

Why…why is it that when I look into Cecil's eyes…that I suddenly feel like I can do anything? He told me that people are intimidated when they look at him…

…But all I've ever felt is overwhelming strength.

Rydia took another deep breath, yanking her hands away from Rosa and Edward as she spun to face the wall of ice.

And I have to use that strength so that there aren't any more kids out there that become orphans like me…or Edward…or Cecil!

She closed her eyes, spreading her fingers before her and conjuring the image of leaping flames in her mind's eye. The recollection of her village burning down around her, the seething heat and suffocating smoke smothering her as she clung to her mother's corpse, kept trying to invade her thoughts. But she squeezed her eyes tighter, forcing the painful memories out with every ounce of strength she could summon, and tried to picture happier, assuaging memories in their place instead.

Fire…warmth…a pretty glow…

The smell on the stove top when Mommy would fry me a Zuu egg for breakfast, and the flames would lick the side of her skillet…

The way Mommy's Eidolon friend, Ifrit, would appear out of thin air and light our fireplace for us in the dead cold of a winter night when she called his name…

Watching Cecil's eyes drown in the radiance of the dying campfire in the waterway, when I had quietly awoken from a nightmare…

She could feel it, now…the familiar tingling sensation in her fingertips of a spell about to be born, life itself breathed into its mystical form by her command.

"…Fire!"

Bursts of red and orange flames erupted from the ground below the ice, snaking around the block of ice and bursting to life in the hairline cracks with the same intensity as if it were consuming a petrified forest. In a matter of seconds, the ice had completely melted away, and a big grin formed on Rydia's face in its place.

"I…I did it!"

"Of course you did!" Rosa laughed, throwing her arms around her in a hug that nearly squeezed the poor girl to death. "Thank you, Rydia!"

"That was incredible!" Edward offered his hand for a high-five, which Rydia gladly accepted, although she almost knocked him over with her enthusiasm.

Cecil gave a half-smile, and Rydia ran up to him, throwing her arms around his leg. Rosa couldn't help but giggle to herself at the little girl's brazenness, while at the same time feeling as if her heart was about to melt in a puddle of sticky goo – never in her life did she ever think she would see a little girl willingly hug Cecil – and in his scary dark knight armor, too! She thought about how if Kain were here, he'd fall over dead from shock.

"Thank you, Rydia," Cecil bowed his head, and Rydia smiled up at him, tilting her chin so she could try to peer through the opening in his helmet.

"I couldn't have done it without you."

"Huh?" Cecil blinked, but Rydia pressed a finger to her lips, shaking her head – and Cecil couldn't help but choke out a laugh at her silliness. For that fleeting moment, he suddenly felt one-hundred pounds lighter, the siphon on his vitality momentarily grinding to a halt.

A floaty sensation sparked to life in Rosa's core as she watched the two of them embrace, and she rose to her feet, pressing her fingers to her lips. This was the Cecil she had known and loved – her noble knight who would stop at nothing to support someone in need, even if it meant suffering in silence – a man who was always willing to carry those weaker along with him to glorious new heights.

There can be little doubt of it now…something sinister has possessed our homeland…and Cecil has been unwittingly playing the role as the devil's steward…!

All those strange things he was saying at the inn…

…It's because he's terrified of what's to come.

Cecil, Rydia and Edward made their approach to the now-open pass, Edward mumbling something about the massive puddles of water Rydia had created from the melting ice when he accidentally slid into one that was ankle-deep, nearly falling over on his face while Rydia chortled. Cecil peered over his shoulder, his eyes flashing as they fell upon Rosa's as if to ask if she were coming. She raised her hand slightly, nodding, and silently fell into step behind them, nimbly jumping over the puddle that had almost felled poor Edward.

Cecil…once we've secured the Crystal of Wind…if you can still say to my face that you don't love me…

…I'll agree to the promise you asked of me in Kaipo.

---

It turned out that much had changed on Mount Hobs since Edward's last journey, catastrophic ice walls aside.

"It's quiet…" Rosa murmured, her eyes darting over the bleak spread of lead-like bedrock that had been gradually exposed upon the mountain's surface, thanks to the relentless march of time and the increasingly-balding plats of yellow, dying grass. Once, in perhaps what was now a long-ago era, the mountainside had been covered in in a swath of jade, based on how many rotted and uprooted trees were strewn along the main road – but now everything that remained was as lifeless as the film of pewter dust that clung to the party's legs as they soldiered through.

"It is…unsettlingly so," Edward admitted, drawing his cloak tighter around his body – even though they had not climbed a great distance in elevation, he still felt as if he were on the brink of freezing to death – they had left summer far behind on the beach where they had parked the hovercraft, and the sun had now completely disappeared behind a wall of obtrusive storm clouds. "I don't remember the road being quite so…abandoned, the last time I was here."

"There's no birds singing, or mice, or even monsters," Rydia frowned. "Did they get scared away by all the people that take this route?"

"I wouldn't think so," Edward mused. "Certainly, this path is well-traveled for the merchants and the occasional dignitary crossing between Damcyan and Fabul, but if anything, it's been getting used less these past few years."

"Why is that?" Cecil asked. "Have relations between Damcyan and Fabul declined?"

Edward shook his head. "Perish the thought. My father and the king are…I mean, were, very good friends, and Damcyan could not ask for better neighbors. But as our kingdoms have evolved, so have our respective need to rely on each other for as much as our ancestors once did. Damcyan's trade has greatly expanded in the last decade, and in peacetime, there was little need to call upon Fabul's defenses. Likewise, with Fabul, they have found their own means of sustaining the kingdom purse, and they are not dependent on our exports as much as they once were. But the friendship remains nevertheless – and as guardians of two of the planet's crystals, it has always seemed as if we were bound by fate..." Edward sighed, pressing his fingers to his lips. "Truth be told, I've been dreading our meeting with the king – having to tell him my parents are dead…I simply don't know how I'm going to summon the courage to do it."

"You won't be alone," Rosa said, touching his arm. "We'll support you however we can."

"That's right!" Rydia nodded.

I wonder what the king of Fabul will make of Baron's transgressions, Cecil thought, crossing his arms. Will he even believe us when I tell him what our kingdom has become? It wasn't as if Baron and Fabul held any bad blood prior to this nightmare unfolding – from what Cecil could observe from afar, Baron had been on friendly terms with all of the ruling nations – but he too recognized his homeland in Edward's comment about a nation's increasing isolation as it grew yet more independent of its neighbors. The truth was, Baron had been prospering as its own entity for far longer than most, and its unwavering hold on the skies above, thanks to airship technology being born in Baron's backyard, ensured that prosperity for countless years ahead. It would take a place like Damcyan generations to catch up to what Baron was now, even before being blown off the face of the planet.

Which makes any reason Baron has for pursuing the crystals even more confusing – why does the power the king holds now still not satisfy his needs?

And this Golbez…if he's truly pulling the strings, as Rosa suspects…why is the king letting him? Everything that's happening – it goes against every moral fiber the king tried to instill in Kain and myself!

"Are we going to get to meet another prince like you, Edward?" Rydia inquired, and Edward shook his head sadly.

"I'm afraid not, dear. The king and queen's only child died long ago – before you were even born. A little boy that drowned in a tragic accident when he was seven…they were so heartbroken that they were never able to bring themselves to sire another heir."

"Irk," Rydia blanched, sorry she had asked. "The same age as I am now…"

"I remember that," Rosa said softly, peering up at the rapidly-darkening sky – at this rate, it would be a miracle if they made it off this mountain without getting drenched. "King Baron requested several of his servicemen to attend the funeral rites with him in Fabul – Kain's father was among them. But he was too unwell to go…" Her voice drifted into nothingness, as if forgetting she had been speaking out loud.

But Cecil knew how that story ended – Kain's father had never recovered, and died only a short time later.

Everyone's mood now thoroughly soured, Edward sighed, his feet dragging behind him like two leaden weights. He couldn't remember the last time he had journeyed so much in such a short duration, and was already on the brink of exhaustion – it went without saying that he was not able to get any sleep after his ghostly encounter with Anna the night before. Just as he was about to swallow his shame and ask if they could take a break, Rydia came to the rescue – or rather, her stomach did.

"Mrgrgrgrgrgr…"

"Was that a monster?" Cecil blinked, turning on his heel to glance behind them, his hand readied at his hip. Rydia blushed fiercely, clutching her belly.

"Um…I guess I'm a little hungry."

"Oh my!" Rosa burst out laughing. "I suppose we have been walking for a while – we should find a place to have a little picnic, right?"

A picnic… Cecil blanched as he stared at a cluster of weather-worn boulders to their right that looked suspiciously like grave markers – they were spaced apart just a little too perfectly to have naturally fallen from the mountainside. I know we have to eat, but…

"A little rest won't harm anything," Edward said quickly, pointing past the boulders to a small den – it was shallow enough that Cecil could make out the back wall from where they stood. "This is as good a place as any – it's a popular stop for travelers, and it marks our half-way point."

The four of them crowded themselves into the den, the three adults' crossed legs brushing each other at the knee as Rydia comfortably slotted herself between Edward and Rosa and shrugged off her backpack so she could retrieve their snacks.

"From here, it's just the summit, and then we'll cross the other side to the road that will take us to Fabul," Edward explained as Rydia distributed a round of apples.

"The summit already?" Rosa blinked. "Mount Hobs isn't very tall, is it?"

"Not compared to many other mountains, no," Edward shook his head. "Which is why it became such a popular route between Damcyan and Fabul, despite all else. Those low-hanging clouds did a good job of obscuring how little we had to climb. The summit is oftentimes occupied by Fabul's monks for their training – I wonder if we'll see any today."

"Monks?" Rydia mumbled through a mouthful of her own apple. "What's a…?"

She suddenly paused, her eyes widening as her cheeks began to blossom a deep pink, a garbled choke escaping her throat. Rosa gasped, smacking Rydia on the back as bits of apple came flying out, smacking into Cecil's helmet with a delicate "splat" that made him cringe and instantly drowned his nostrils with a sour-sweet aroma. It was a good thing his visor was down…

"Are you OK?" Rosa shrieked, and Rydia quickly shook her head, gasping for breath as she shakily pointed over Cecil's shoulder. Cecil spun around, wiping crushed apple away from his view, and quite nearly shrieked for himself as the entrance to their little hideaway suddenly plunged into darkness, the overwhelming stench of decay mixing with the sickly tang of the apple.

Blocking their way out was a staggering tower of bones – humanoid, from what Cecil could barely make out – a chattering skull teetering dangerously from a half-severed spinal cord and long, whippet-thin digits with gnarled bone protruding through paper-thin stretches of pale, bloodstained flesh.

"Oh my gods!" Edward squealed, scrambling as far back in the den as he could go and nearly crushing Rydia in the process, who couldn't help but smack him in the leg in disbelief as she coughed out the rest of her apple. Cecil's mind went blank from utter shock – he hadn't realized he had somehow managed to draw his sword and thrust it upward into the monster's chest cavity until the clatter of its bones hitting the cavern floor rang in his ears like blaring alarm bells.

"Cecil!" Rosa cried, throwing her arms around him from behind and pressing her lips into the back of his neck as she gasped – he could feel the blood rushing to his head as his senses came hurtling back to him. "Are you OK?"

"What…the hell…was that?" was all Cecil could manage to choke out, opening his visor to get a better look at the mess now laid at his feet.

"A zombie!" Rydia wailed, tears springing to her eyes. "They're real!"

"N-No way," Cecil forced an unconvincing laugh, gently wrestling away from Rosa's grip as he crawled forward to take a closer look. As his shadow fell over the pile of bones, the skull's sunken eyeholes suddenly erupted in a flare of red, rolling over under its own power and hissing menacingly at Cecil between clenched, rotten teeth.

"Ahhhh!" Cecil howled, falling back just as he heard Rosa recite a Cura spell. The den filled with a soothing green aurora, and the skull unleashed an unearthly shriek, the light fading from its eyes as it flopped back to the ground and dissipated into a pile of moldy dust.

"…I guess Rydia was right," Rosa murmured, lowering her hands to her lap. "If that thing were anything but the undead, healing magic wouldn't have harmed it…"

My shadowblade isn't going to do anything against monsters like these, Cecil thought, his jaw twitching. Where did this thing come from? He thought back to the three strangely-shaped boulders on their way to the den, and felt his heart sink into his stomach.

Unless…

"Our banquet has come to an end," he commanded, rising to his feet. "We've got to get to Fabul as quickly as possible."

"But how is this happening?" Edward moaned. "I've never encountered such a creature here – this is simply unprecedented!"

"Think about it," Cecil frowned, walking to the opening of the den so he could play lookout while the others scrambled to gather their things. He tried to steady the timbre of his voice as he noticed three gaping holes that had appeared in front of the boulders – with long, deep scratches etched in the ground around them – like someone had dug their way out of a shallow grave. "You said the mountain is quieter than it used to be – and it looks as if every sign of life has been extinguished. Something vile has overtaken Mount Hobs and transformed both the living and the dead into abominations. I fear we may have sprung a trap."

"…A trap?" Rosa gulped. "Whatever do you mean…?"

But Cecil didn't reply. His mind was racing back to earlier that morning, when they had encountered the wall of ice blocking their entry to the mountain.

Edward had said the ice may have appeared because of an imbalance with the crystals…

But what if…the crystals were trying to protect us by keeping us away, instead…?

---

The assault came swiftly as their path transitioned from the west vista to the mountain's summit – lead by two skeletons Cecil suspected were the "friends" of the first that had attacked them in the den, followed by a slew of other twisted creatures – molting, reanimated Cockatrices that would dive bomb from above, stone-skinned Gargoyles that were a cross of a man buried alive in a mudslide combined with wyvern wings that were powerful enough to blow you off the mountainside, and glowing, hovering silver wisps of light that would swoop from the low clouds in an attempt to smother and suffocate before one could comprehend what was happening. They looked like a cloud of breath that escaped your mouth on a freezing winter day, so Cecil grimly decided to call them "Spirits" to keep in theme with the ghoulish nightmare they had plunged head-first into.

"These monsters are just never-ending!" Rosa cried, blinking the sweat out of her eyes as she withdrew another arrow, fluidly loading it to her bow and peering into the misty clouds above. A moment later, her bowstring sprung forward, launching the arrow square into the heart of a Cockatrice descending from one of the gnarled, spectral trees.

Cecil had gone ahead to clear the winding path to the summit's peak with Rydia, who was now making good use of her newly-acquired Fire magic and exorcising everything that dared even breathe in her direction – a pep talk from Rosa about how the undead tended to be weak to flame had suddenly bolstered the little girl's confidence in her slaying abilities. Cecil, grateful as he was for Rydia's help, feared that he wouldn't be able to catch up to her if she was caught off-guard thanks to his rapidly-fading stamina, and found himself gradually shifting his battle strategy from offense to pure defense in an effort to protect the girl. It seemed that every time he struck a blow of his own, his strength was further sapped away – was it because he was waging a hopeless campaign against creatures born from pure darkness with a blade that served the shadows, or was his body spiraling yet into further decline?

It seems as those around me grow stronger, I only seem to sink further into oblivion…

But even in his depleted state, Cecil was still managing better than poor Prince Edward. It was made very clear early on in the battle that Edward was not even remotely combat-inclined. Cecil had initially given him the benefit of the doubt in the antlion nest, assuming the man had been in shock at seeing a formerly-beloved creature go rogue – not to mention his entire world had just been literally blown apart.

I suppose his reaction in the den when we were ambushed wasn't that far off from what I should have expected from here on out, Cecil thought, grinding the heel of his boot into the chest of a dying Gargoyle Rosa had shot out of the sky as he watched Edward's attempt to lure a Spirit to sleep with his harp. The Spirit suddenly erupted into a smoldering cloud of asphyxiating grit, and Edward disappeared from sight in a hurry, diving behind a scraggly corpse of bramble.

At least no one can deny his talent for escaping danger.

"Edward, are you hiding again?" Rydia frowned, flinging a Cure spell at the Spirit to vanquish it as she joined Cecil's side once more.

"I just…I just need to rest for one moment," Edward moaned from beneath his hat, letting out a tiny cough. "I-I think I swallowed part of that thing when it got mad at me…"

Rydia wrinkled her nose. "Must you act so princely all the time?"

"Is that all of them?" Rosa frowned, coming up from the rear and hesitatingly sliding her bow over her shoulder. She bit her lip as her eyes found Cecil's. "It seemed just moments ago we were totally surrounded."

"I got a lot of the monsters!" Rydia bragged, puffing out her chest and blowing at the tip of her finger.

"So you did," Cecil nodded, hoping against hope that Rosa had been too preoccupied to notice how badly he had slowed down – was she looking at him funny, or was it just his imagination? "But…Rosa's right. Did some of them run away…?" He peered up the face of the cliff they had been pinned beneath – the road stretched onward around the bend to take them up and over to the final passage, and it was impossible for them to see anything else from their current position.

Suddenly, a rush of cold air engulfed them from above, followed by a thundering crash that rippled through the vista and sent a flurry of dust flying into the air in the bushes behind Edward. The blood draining from his face, the prince sprung forth from his hiding place, scrambling between Rosa and Cecil as Rydia gasped aloud and grabbed Cecil's leg.

"W-What was that?"

As Cecil gingerly tried to shake the girl off so he could investigate, Rosa drifted forward, fishing an arrow out of her quiver and clenching it like a knife. Her cloak snagging on the dead, but still piercingly-sharp thorns, she fanned away the dust with her other hand and leaned in, her heart leaping to her throat as she unleashed a terrified scream.

"Ah-AHHHHHHH!"

"What!?" Cecil cried, yanking Rydia off of him and rushing to Rosa as she stumbled backward, her eyes white with shock.

"It's a…a body!"

Cecil yanked the bushes apart, resulting in a chorus of petrified wood snapping in the air. Sure as anything, the crumpled body of an athletic, clean-shaven, balding man was lying there, his neck obviously broken thanks to the bizarre angle his head had hit the ground. He was dressed in an orange gi with the top portion shrugged open, a massive burn puckering across his chest that was oozing with oil and other bodily substances Cecil really didn't care to identify. The victim's eyes were clenched shut, but his mouth was still hanging half-open, as if he had died in the middle of a scream.

"Damnation…" Cecil muttered, pulling Rosa against him and trying to ignore the way the hollow of her cheek fit perfectly against his chest. His eyes wandered toward the top of the cliff – that had been the only possible place from which their visitor could have made his arrival. Now that the furor of battle had calmed, he could very distinctly make out the sound of shuffling footsteps and distant grunts – all of them coming from high above.

"Something is happening on the summit," Cecil announced, turning away from the body and escorting Rosa back to the others, where he promptly deposited her between a shaking Edward and an astonished Rydia. "You three stay here while I go up." He was met with no arguments as he ran further down the road, disappearing from sight as the incline twisted and carried him away from the others.

When he finally reached the top, he nearly smashed into the barge-like backside of a staggeringly tall, strapping man who was bare-chested, save for the intricate crimson tattoos that were etched along the curvature of his muscles like a watercolor painting – Cecil could make out a rising sun on his left shoulder and a spray of stars encircling his right bicep. The only hair he had on his head was a thin ponytail of honey blonde gathered at his crown, which was twisted into a braid that fell to the lobes of his ears. Exquisitely-arched eyebrows were knitted into a grimace over his navy-black eyes, and his upper lip was obscured by a thick blonde mustache, not a single hair out of formation from the rest.

He seemed to take no notice of Cecil, who was but a waif of a man in comparison to his bulk. Spread before them was the aftermath of what could have been a scene lifted from any one of Cecil's recent blood-soaked memories: A hoard of Bombs, and their blue-tinged, but no less dangerous cousins, Gray Bombs, were laid to waste in the scorched prairie of the summit, along with several of the monsters that had previously attacked the party – Cecil could see a scattering of bone fragments where one of the skeletons must had been torn apart by…what, exactly? But joining them was yet another calamitous spectacle – men that were dressed identically as the body that had fallen over the cliff were dashed across staggering rock formations and collapsed under the monsters' remains in countless numbers. As the monsters began to break down into ashen dust and drift away on the stirring gales of the approaching storm, the bodies of their victims remained, lifeless and bone-white against the startling contrast of the blood spilling from their wounds.

"What's this?" Cecil finally managed to choke, and the stranger turned to him, twin ruby orbs dangling in his ears as he silently eyed the intruder. Cecil could feel himself breaking into a sweat as he watched the man fold his bulging arms across his chest – he was quite positive that the man could snap him in half as easily as one would a twig – and it wasn't helping matters that the man's red cotton slacks, which were in inexplicably embroidered with floating smiley faces that matched the yellow sash tied around his waist, were also drenched in blood splatter.

"Oh! That garb – you're a Fabulian monk!" Edward suddenly exclaimed from behind, and Cecil flinched, spinning around in exasperation. The man raised an eyebrow, his gaze briefly falling upon the prince.

"I thought I told you to stay down there…" Cecil began, cutting himself off when he saw Rosa and Rydia were running up the path to join them. He smacked his hand to his forehead. "Why does no one listen to me…?"

"Hut! Huah!" the monk suddenly launched himself into a backflip away from the party, forming his body into a perfect arch as he hook-kicked a gigantic Bomb that had silently risen from the ledge of the cliff behind them, sending it flying into a rotting tree that promptly shattered into an explosion of flaming bark that rained over the cliffside. Cecil turned just in time to see the Bomb stagger forward from the attack, an irritated, whistle-like screech erupting from its mouth as it expanded several times bigger, its darkening shadow blanketing the fallen men scattered over the summit.

"That's no ordinary foe!" Edward whimpered.

It most certainly is not, Cecil thought, clutching his sword. The Bombs that Baron used to attack Mist were monstrous, but had still been honed by a semblance of command by whoever had crafted the dastardly ring – they hadn't attacked Cecil and Kain, after all, and had been military-efficient in their efforts to destroy the village. The fear that prickled beneath his flesh now was the product of facing something erratic, uncontrollable – this was a wild beast, transformed into something terrifying by whatever – or whoever – had cursed this godforsaken mountain.

If we let that thing get any bigger, it's going to tear down all of Mount Hobs along with it when it blows…

The monk recovered his stance, his lips forming a thin line as he silently sized up his enemy. Cecil was amazed at how calm the warrior before him was – there was no erratic rise and fall of his chest, no flush of panic – not even a single bead of sweat to be seen.

"Rosa, Rydia, Edward – I want you to run," Cecil said slowly, using his sword to gesture toward the next path, which snaked through opposite of the battlefield and subsequently plunged southeast. "We may not have much time – one of us must reach Fabul and warn them – at any cost."

"W-We're not leaving y-you," Edward stammered, although the rising pitch of his voice gave away his true feelings on that subject.

"We have to help that man!" Rydia protested, raising her ice rod. "I'm not running away!"

"We're fighting together," Rosa said firmly, already in the middle of loading her bow. Before Cecil could argue any further, the monk launched another attack, raining a flurry of blows upon the Bomb with such blinding speed that Cecil could hardly track where he would appear next. The creature raised one of its disjointed claws, summoning a Fira spell that dripped with molten flame as it reared back to release the spell upon its oblivious attacker.

"Watch out!" Cecil shouted, diving forward and swinging his blade just in time to connect with the fireball. The magic rebounded in the Bomb's face, resulting in an obnoxious plume of choking smoke that sent both Cecil and the monk reeling.

"T-Thanks," the man wheezed, his voice muffled into his hands as a series of arrows shot over their heads, burying themselves in the Bomb's twitching, smoldering form. He peered up at Cecil from between his fingers, one eyebrow raised. "And you are…?"

"Blizzard!" Rydia cried, and Cecil grabbed the monk, pulling them down to the ground as an explosion of icicles blossomed beneath the Bomb, slicing through its ballooning flesh like a knife through butter. The Bomb began to quiver overhead, its unblinking yellow eyes rolling around in its skull maddeningly as smoke billowed from between its glistening teeth. The monk rolled over and gasped, raising his arm and forgetting about introductions.

"It's going to blow…!"

"Shell!" Rosa gasped, and Cecil felt a protective veil of liquid silk wrap itself around him, muffling the frothing rage of the monster and briefly dousing the world around him a soothing jade that made him feel as if he were underwater. As the Bomb detonated over them, Cecil could feel the ground quaking mercilessly beneath his body, and could see the ribbons of fire discharging straight for his face, but remarkably, each one that slammed into the veil dissipated like a child blowing out the candles on a birthday cake, and he was left completely unharmed. Cecil closed his eyes in relief, his grip on his sword loosening.

Thank you, Rosa…!

As the spell faded, the real world began to seep back into his senses. Cecil scrambled back to his feet, extending his hand toward the monk. As the man grabbed hold gratefully and leapt up, still seemingly stunned by the magic that had just saved his life, a rise of tittering laugher and gnashing teeth rapidly surrounded them. In the fading surge of smoke, multiple pairs of yellow glares flashed at them hungrily from all angles, dancing and bobbing as a violent crack of lightning tore across the sky, briefly illuminating the summit in pure white.

I guess things couldn't be that easy, Cecil thought, lifting his sword once more. Does that make me an optimist, or a fool?

"The big Bomb exploded into a bunch of red and gray baby Bombs!" Rydia gulped, her knees knocking together as she watched them rise from the dispersing fumes and glare wickedly at their surroundings – her heart was racing as the all-too familiar scene unfolded before them. "We…we have to kill them quickly…before they…!"

"I may know a song for such an occasion," Edward mused, retrieving his harp and closing his eyes as his fingers began to daintily dance across the strings. Rosa's jaw dropped as she turned to Rydia, who had instantly gone from frightened child to raving fangirl as she clapped her hands together and cheered Edward on.

"What is he d-doing?" Rosa sputtered, and Rydia winked up at her.

"Edward's music creates miracles! You'll see – but you and I have gotta protect Cecil!"

"R-right…" Rosa nodded, shaking her head and taking a deep breath as she reached into her quiver. "Rydia…think you can lend me a hand and cast Blizzard on these arrows?"

Meanwhile, Cecil and the monk had inched closer together to escape the dizzying circle of Bombs that had surrounded them, standing back-to-back as the monk clicked his tongue and extended his palm.

"On the count of three?" the monk smiled slightly, and Cecil nodded, raising his sword.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Yah!" the monk thrust his fist forward, smashing a metal-tipped claw Cecil had not noticed before through a Bomb's mouth and sending jagged teeth flying through the air like freshly-popped corn. Cecil pivoted to his left and sliced indiscriminately through every blur of red and blue that held long enough in his vision for him to see. An energetic beat was filling the air around them, and Cecil could feel the tempo of his heartbeat shifting with the music, his muscles seemingly moving on their own as he automatically darted from monster to monster, time dragging to a crawl whenever he made eye contact to aim his weapon.

What is happening? Cecil blinked, watching in amazement as another Bomb was flawlessly executed at the end of the shadowblade. This music…it makes me feel as if I could battle for hours!

The monk called out a warning to Cecil, and Cecil automatically dropped to his knees without even comprehending the command, the man's leg flying overhead and causing another Bomb to explode into glittering dust that rained upon Cecil's stunned form. From afar, Rosa shot arrow after arrow into the sky, each blessed with a Blizzard spell from Rydia before plunging into the back of an unsuspecting monster. She was marveled at how the effort it took her to aim was cut into mere seconds despite the blinding speed of their enemies, but didn't want to waste precious time thinking about it too hard. In a matter of minutes, the five of them had decimated the population of Bombs, the monk striking the final blow with a vicious roundhouse kick that caused the beast to dramatically explode upon impact against a neighboring peak several yards away. Edward's hand dropped from his harp, and everything around Cecil seemed to suddenly speed back up from slow motion to normalcy.

"Whoa," Rosa gasped, the blood suddenly rushing to her head as she lowered her bow and wobbled on her feet. "Edward…was that all you?"

"My most sincere apologies, the aftereffects of a song like Hastemarch can be a little debilitating," Edward said sheepishly, tucking his harp away back into his jacket. "I was hoping making you temporarily faster would help."

"I liked that song better than the other one, I think," Rydia smiled, even as she collapsed on the ground in a heap of noodle-like limbs. "But I am kinda dizzy…"

"Are you all right?" Cecil called, though his eyes could not help but seek out Rosa's as he rushed back to them, sheathing his sword. Rosa smiled slightly, nodding.

"Yes – thanks to Edward and Rydia."

"Thanks to all of you," the monk suddenly boomed from behind, everyone jumping slightly in place as they turned to face him. He made the effort of dusting his oddly-patterned pants off before making his approach, pressing his palms together and sinking into a bow so deep that his ponytail flopped over the top of his head.

"You have my deepest gratitude," he murmured, his baritone surprisingly soothing and gentle despite the girth of the man behind it. As he lifted from his bow, his inquisitive stare rested upon each of them, now completely devoid of any of the intimidation Cecil had felt pouring off of him just moments before in the heat of battle – it was like a totally different person was now standing before them. "I am Yang Fang Leiden, grandmaster of the monks of Fabul."

"Cecil Harvey," Cecil said, extending his hand. The two men shook, and introductions were made down the line, Yang pausing when he reached Edward, who was last.

"You seemed familiar to me when you first approached the summit," Yang frowned, and Edward nodded, retrieving his hat from his head and making a quick bow.

"Aye, I'm Prince Edward, of Damcyan. I've been to Fabul many times, although I cannot say any of them have been of late. Perhaps you recognize me from one of those visits."

"Perhaps so," Yang nodded, and the two men shook, Edward's slender hand completely disappearing inside Yang's. He turned back to the others, gesturing toward the destruction behind him. "We came here for training, and found death instead. A great host of monsters waylaid us. I am the only one who survived."

Rosa gasped, covering her mouth. "Training? Does that mean these men were students of yours…?"

Yang nodded, closing his eyes. "The training was nothing out of the ordinary – we routinely make journeys to Mount Hobs to practice meditation and combat. The resident monsters here are of no threat – or at least, that used to be the case. The monks with me today were all fine, strong men, but even they could do little against today's onslaught. I fear if you hadn't found me when you did, that I would now be among them…"

It simply cannot be a coincidence that this is all happening the same time the crystals are in grave danger, Cecil thought.

"We were on our way to Fabul when the monsters attacked us too."

Yang tilted his head thoughtfully. "What business do you have there?"

"A man named Golbez has taken control of Baron, and is using its forces to seize the world's crystals," Rosa frowned. Yang crossed his arms over his chest, lowering his head.

"…And you think he intends to come for our Wind Crystal as well?"

"Yes, and soon!" Edward burst. "He has already taken the Fire Crystal from Damcyan, and Baron has in their possession the Crystal of Water as well. It's only logical that Fabul would be next."

Yang nodded, still remaining unbelievably calm about the entire situation. Cecil couldn't tell if it was a product of his discipline as a grandmaster monk, or if he perhaps thought they were all off their rockers. Everything they were laying at his feet was pretty astonishing – Cecil had spent a good amount of time in denial himself, even as he had held the Crystal of Water in his bloodied hands. Finally, Yang drew in a deep breath, lifting his gaze toward darkening sky.

"And our monks, slain… The castle is all but undefended. The few who remain in Fabul lack proper training. We would have no hope of fending off a strike from Baron were it to come now – this is most unfortunate timing."

"It may not have been unfortunate more so than purposeful," Rosa said softly. "The monsters that bested you were most likely sent by Golbez as well."

"Of course," Yang nodded and sighed. "To eliminate us, and leave Fabul defenseless…"

"If that is true, he may be moving against your kingdom as we speak," Edward said.

"We must hurry," Cecil pressed. "We'll aid you in whatever way we can – please, take us back with you to Fabul!"

"I am grateful for the offer," Yang began, peering into Cecil's eyes as he stroked his mustache. "But there is no reason for you to be dragged any further in this…"

What!? Cecil wanted to scream. Have you any idea what you are up against…?

"Our stake in this conflict is no less than yours!" Edward cried, clasping his hands together. "Damcyan has been decimated by Golbez and the Red Wings, and I am one of very few that remain of my people."

"Rosa and I are of Baron," Cecil frowned. "And this child here lost all that she knew because…because I allowed this enemy to deceive me." Rydia, who had still been sitting on the ground, stared at her lap silently, her throat in knots. Yang nodded, uncrossing his arms.

"I see. Then, I will most humbly accept whatever help you are willing to provide. Prince Edward, I insist that you meet with His Highness immediately."

"Consider it done," Edward nodded. "It is my intention to tell him everything I know about the enemy – not that it's very much, I'm afraid."

Good. Now that this is all settled… "Come, then," Cecil gently took Rydia's arm to lift her back to her feet. She staggered up, blinking the tears away from her eyes before anyone else could see. It seemed to her that all Mist would ever be referred to going forward was as a cautionary tale – it ached terribly every time she had to hear it, had to remember it. Cecil patted her shoulder as he glared at the oncoming storm. "Time is our enemy."

"Fabul lies east beyond the mountain," Yang nodded. "We'll go at once – there is but the eastern crossing to pass through, and then we will practically be in Fabul's backyard." He gestured for the group to follow him, offering a round of whispered prayers as they passed his fallen students. Cecil wasn't sure of what he should do, and quickly decided on closing his eyes and silently wishing them safe passage to their next life.

I'm sorry – I wish there was something more we could have done to save you all.

Please…forgive me.

On the sloping east pass, the kingdom of Fabul could be seen in the distance through a break in the forestry, a soaring gray castle surrounded by several layers of fortress walls with a moat that was self-sustained by the northern sea upon whose shores the castle had been constructed. Dots of white and red from the sails of docked ships were spread throughout the harbor, and Cecil could even make out several watch towers dotting the horizon, each emblazoned with the kingdom's standard.

It doesn't look as if Baron has made it yet, Cecil thought. It's a longshot, but maybe the impending storm is holding the Red Wings back…

Yang remained silent the entirety of their journey after he had finished reciting his prayers. It was a relief to not have to bring himself to talk after the exhausting chain of battles, so Cecil followed suit, trying to work out in his head instead just how exactly the five of them and a group of novice monks were going to stave off Golbez and the Red Wings. But no matter what kind of plan he came up with, nothing seemed feasible that would allow them to walk away with victory – not after the carnage he had witnessed in Damcyan.

No wonder Yang had initially declined their help. Weren't they essentially walking into a suicide mission?

It wasn't before long that the figures in the watch towers took notice of the party coming down from the mountain's lone path, a welcome crew springing into motion unbeknownst to the party as Yang played the mute tour guide, seeking out the much-worn pathways he and his men had been taking between the castle and their training grounds in Mount Hobs for decades, and their fathers and grandfathers many decades more before them. Upon reaching Fabul's grounds, two monk acolytes raced from the castle gates toward Yang, panic in their voices.

"Master Yang, Master Yang! The king is waiting for you!"

"We saw you from the outpost, but we didn't see any of your men!"

"Very good, we shall see him right now," Yang replied, glossing over comment about the missing students. Cecil was sure the loss of those monks would be considered a national disaster – he supposed now was not the best time for the acolytes to hear that all of their fellow brothers in arms were dead. Once more, Cecil found himself in envy of Yang's composure and constraint – his own nerves felt as if they had been frayed beyond mend, especially if he thought too hard about what he could be potentially dragging Rydia and Rosa into.

The two men bowed and followed the group back to the castle gates, which they eagerly opened for Yang and subsequently sealed behind them, the forged iron portcullis crashing back to the ground without ceremony as they entered the upper bailey through the first fortress wall. Cecil was shocked to see groups of townspeople strolling about, talking to the soldiers that were on watch as they flitted from shop to shop, with open-air stalls put up in the courtyard and storefronts built into their own chambers. Yang noticed Cecil's surprise, smiling slightly.

"Our village is contained within our castle walls, so that our citizens are made as secure as possible," Yang explained. "It used to be that the forests surrounding Fabul's southern region were filled with fearsome monsters, and it was not feasible in those times to secure a village – citizenry more often than not had to evacuate to the castle when the monster population got particularly riled up. Today, such issues do not exist, and we could conceivably expand the populace outside the castle walls – but most of the young men in the village wish to train to become monks, so we aim to make that dream as accessible to them as possible."

"I've always wished for such a design for Damcyan, as well," Edward sighed. "When I was younger, it seemed much more fun to have everyone in one place, as opposed to scattered villages throughout the desert. Of course, as an adult, I see the tactical advantages as well…above all, it is a king's duty to serve at all levels to his people, is it not?"

"When you reconstruct Damcyan, that is a dream you could build upon with your own two hands," Yang offered, and Edward flushed, looking away.

When I reconstruct…? Will that even be possible for someone like me…?

"That's wonderful," Rosa said. "If something were to happen, will everyone hide here within the village?"

"Yes – the village has hidden evacuation routes in all the shops that will lead people to secure underground bunkers," Yang said. "Long ago, they were dungeons, but we haven't used them for that purpose in centuries. Now we mostly use them for storage."

Cecil and Rosa exchanged glances as they continued toward the throne room. It could go without saying – it seemed the only commonality Baron and Fabul shared was a continent.

I wish I could have come here under different circumstances, Cecil thought. It seems there was much Baron could have learned from our neighbors.

In the antechamber, another pair of guards stood at the ready, both immediately snapping to attention as soon as Yang set foot in the room.

"Master Yang, welcome home! His Highness is waiting. Is there anything we can assist with before you hold counsel?"

"We shall proceed as-is, thank you," Yang demurred, and the monks bowed in response, pulling open the throne room doors without hesitation.

"Everyone here respects Master Yang so much…" Edward murmured under his breath. He wondered what that felt like. As shameful as it was to throw himself a pity party at a time like this, he just couldn't help it – Cecil, Rosa and Rydia had promised to remain by his side, and here they were – but it wasn't going to make reliving Damcyan's destruction for the king any easier.

"Oh, Yang!" the king, a burly, muscular man practically busting out of his royal regalia, stood up from his throne and made a rush for Yang. He had dark hair that was peppered with white and gray swept back from his face by his crown, his deep violet robes emphasizing the rich black of his finely-lined stare. Yang bowed deeply at the waist, his hands folded in prayer position, and the rest of the group hurriedly followed suit behind him. The king motioned for them to rise, grabbing hold of Yang's arms in a half-embrace before the grandmaster could even fully straighten his spine, and Cecil felt a strange pang in his chest. He couldn't remember the last time King Baron had seemed worried about him like that – even before all of this madness with the crystals had begun.

"So, you've returned...I admit, I grew fearful when I heard that your men did not descend from Mount Hobs with you. Did something happen during training today?"

"Your Highness, I return with urgent news," Yang frowned. "A man known as Golbez is coming for the Wind Crystal, with all the might of Baron behind him."

"What!?" the king gasped, releasing Yang. "You're sure of this?"

Yang nodded, stepping aside as he gestured toward Cecil, Rosa, Rydia and Edward. "These people before you came to warn us."

"And who might they be?"

At that moment, a massive roll of thunder exploded outside, causing the castle to shake around them – Edward squirmed behind Cecil, feeling himself break into a cold sweat – it had sounded just like the first bomb to lay waste to Damcyan, before any of them had realized what was happening.

"Your Highness," Cecil cried, stepping forward and pressing his palm over his chest. "I mean no disrespect, but there is no time for introductions. Your castle must be secured, and quickly!" The alarm in the king's eyes did not fade, but he did smile slightly, as if Cecil were the child in their group.

"Young man, your armor would have you for one of Baron's own dark knights, if my eyes do not deceive me. Why should I trust you?" Cecil clenched his jaw as Yang raised his hand to silence him, turning back to the king.

"Their trustworthiness is proven, Your Highness. On Mount Hobs, we were ambushed by monsters the likes of which I have never encountered in all my years of service. I had already lost my men, and fought for my own life when Cecil and the others came upon me. They could have stood and watched me die, but they aided me instead, risking their own lives to do so. When they explained to me that they were traveling to Fabul to warn us of this danger, I knew that I had no other choice but to assist them in finding their way to you."

Cecil anxiously pushed Yang's hand away, daring to step closer to the king – protocol be damned at a time like this.

"I assure you, your enemy will not wait as you do."

"Please, you must believe us!" Rosa protested. "It is true that Cecil and I are of Baron, but we've risked our lives – risked everything – to come here. It is because we're Baronian citizens that we truly understand what their forces are capable of." The king still did not look swayed, resting his hands on his hips as Yang calmly met his scrutinizing stare. Cecil sucked a large gulp of air between his teeth, a dull throb beginning to take up in his temple.

Why isn't Yang saying anything? Why is he just standing there, letting the king waste precious time?

Rydia tugged on Edward's jacket, and he looked down at her, his face drenched with a thin sheen of sweat.

"Edward – you have to tell him what happened," Rydia whispered. "The king thinks Cecil and Rosa have tricked Yang. You're the only one whose word he will trust."

"The only one…?" Edward swallowed. Rydia gently gave him a shove, causing him to stumble unwittingly next to Cecil. The king narrowed his eyes as Cecil drew his breath to launch into another argument, but Edward cleared his throat, his voice cracking as he gently placed his hand on Cecil's arm. To his surprise, Cecil shut his mouth, although Edward could see his eyes flashing dangerously in the shadow of his helmet.

"Are you from Baron as well?" the king frowned, and Edward shook his head, reaching to remove his hat.

"It is an honor to see you again, Your Highness. It has been many a day."

The king blinked, realizing he had heard that silky tenor somewhere before, once upon a time. After a few moments, it finally hit him, and he gasped, embracing Edward just as he had Yang. Edward squirmed under the man's grip, clearly not used to such affections from anyone, let alone someone three time his size. Cecil would have laughed if he hadn't reached the brink of unmittigated frustration.

"If it isn't Prince Edward! I'd hardly recognized you – you've grown tremendously since we last met. How fares Damcyan?"

"It has fallen," Edward whispered, and the king's face twisted into a frown as he pulled away. Edward slumped forward, wrapping his arms around himself as he crushed his hat against his chest. "The Fire Crystal is ours no more. I lost my mother and my father, and the remainder of my family – even my beloved Anna. The Red Wings' fire – it took everything from me. The Damcyan you once knew is no more – and nothing will ever be the same!" He clenched his eyes shut, begging himself not to give in to the tears that were welling behind his swollen lids – Rydia had told him to stop crying, after all...

"Edward…" the king trailed off, and Edward forced himself to meet the monarch's eyes, even though he felt ready to throw up.

"Tell me you will not let your own land suffer the same fate as ours."

The king closed his eyes and turned away, reaching up to massage his temples beneath the weight of his crown. Yang crossed his arms, his mouth pressed in a thin line.

"Forgive me," the king sighed. "I only found it hard to believe you spoke the truth, but it seems you do. Still, without our monks, there is little we can do. Will you aid us in our defense?"

"These men have both strength and courage," Yang said. "By your leave, I would have them stand with me on the front line of our defense."

"If that is your wish, I will trust your judgment," the king nodded, turning to address Rosa and Rydia. "Might you two ladies assist our healers?"

Rosa stared at her feet, swallowing her first reply, which would have been an emphatic "No way". Her place was with Cecil and the others – she would know best how to protect them, and no one could tell her otherwise – not even the man who ruled the kingdom her homeland was about to ensnare in war.

But she didn't want to cause more trouble for Cecil – she could tell by his stiff, strained demeanor that he was still irritated the king delayed them as long as he had – and he would just tell her that her talents were better suited for the infirmary and not the battlefield.

And it had taken Edward's heart breaking all over again for them to convince the king of their tale – if she jeopardized that breakthrough with her insolence, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"Certainly," Rosa finally nodded, patting Rydia's shoulder. "We'll do everything we can."

See, Cecil? I'm not as stubborn as you and Kain might think.

"My kingdom's fate, then, is in your hands," he sighed. "Yang, I will be warning the queen of this turn of events and leading the evacuation of the women and children first and foremost."

"Leave everything else to us, Your Highness," Yang assured him. "Cecil, Edward – with me!" Yang nodded toward the doors through which they had arrived, and proceeded to take his leave, Edward rushing after him with his head bowed. The king muttered something incomprehensible under his breath and retreated to the back of the throne room, immediately flanked by two monks that had been guarding silently in the rear. As Cecil turned to follow Yang and Edward, Rosa dove forward and grabbed his hand, reaching up with the other to slide open the visor on his helmet. She felt a mix of relief and agony when his eyes immediately found hers – the familiar crystal-blue made her feel as if she were sinking into a dream, but an inauspicious shadow had settled in his gaze that made her heart plunge into her stomach.

"Cecil," Rosa whispered, her fingers trembling against the opening of his helmet. "Please, be careful!" Cecil nodded, giving her hand a slight squeeze before pulling away. Slight as his touch was, she felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her body, a cold sweat drenching the back of her neck under her knotted, wind-strewn waves.

Something…something is very wrong…

"I will. And you, too!" He turned to Rydia, smiling slightly. "Rydia, I need you to keep Rosa safe for me, you hear?"

"Yes!" Rydia exclaimed, waving good-bye as Cecil turned on his heel and disappeared through the throne room doors. Rosa bit her lip, summoning every last ounce of strength she had to keep herself from falling to a heap on the floor. Rydia spun back to her, patting Rosa's thigh assuredly.

"Don't worry!" Rydia smiled, wondering what had gotten into Rosa all of a sudden. "Cecil promised when we first met that he would protect me – and I'm gonna keep my promise and protect you too. Nothing bad's going to happen!"

Rosa smiled back weakly and nodded.

"Ah, of course, Rydia."

Another violent rumble of thunder shook the castle, a sudden torrent of rain crashing upon the acrylic tiled roof drowning out the sound of Rosa's blood rushing through her ears.

---

Outside the castle, Yang, Cecil and Edward were stationed at the front gates with a couple guards above them in towers to act as lookouts – only as many as could be spared. None of them had spoken a word since the impromptu meeting Yang had called with the rest of the castle's acolyte monks in the grand hall to concoct a strategy for when the Red Wings dared to show their faces. Cecil and Edward had shared every piece of possible intel that they knew, in hopes that any of it would prove useful: Cecil revealed top-secret flight formation drills he had conducted as recently as weeks prior with his men to try to glean a hint as to how they might approach Fabul, and Edward did his best to recall every detail of the morning Damcyan had been bombed – what he had heard, felt, and his estimate of how long it had taken for the castle to completely succumb to the assault.

"We had only minutes," Edward had shivered, running his fingers through his sweat-dampened hair. "And then it was all over. The Crystal of Fire was in the northernmost spire, and was left largely unguarded – it was only accessible from my parents' chambers, and we had thought that was enough. We had no idea that anyone would try to take it by airship… It simply seemed inconceivable at the time."

In the end, they had all concluded that it was best to keep Baron's forces outside the castle as long as possible – Yang had argued that if Baron had any credible intel on how Fabul was constructed, that an aerial assault like they had executed in Damcyan would be useless:

"Our fortress may not be able to withstand a bombing as extensive as Damcyan's, but they would be shooting themselves in the foot by trying to level the castle – it would only impede their path to the crystal since there are so many layers for them to penetrate."

Another monk-in-training approached the portcullis, which they had decided to leave engaged with the main doors open to better pass information between the exterior and interior of the castle. He shared that the king was hidden safely in his quarters along with the queen, having evacuated the women and children to an undisclosed bunker. The rest of the villagers were either helping watch guard or fight, or had joined the others in the basements.

"And the crystal's status?" Yang inquired.

"Only two hold the key to the crystal chamber, Master Yang."

"Very good."

Edward unleashed a mighty sneeze, fishing a handkerchief out of his pocket and blowing into it miserably. Cecil couldn't help but shiver just watching him – the rain was coming down in sheets, and he had earlier refused to use of any additional armor that could have been retrieved from storage.

"I'm slow enough as it is," Edward had laughed lamely on their way to the gathering of acolytes. "Adding any more weight to this frame would make me a sitting duck."

"Are you cold?" Cecil asked pointedly as Yang continued to go over final logistics with the visiting monk, and Edward shook his head, his golden hair dulled a dusty hue thanks to all the rain dripping from it.

"I'll be all right. You don't have to worry about me, Cecil."

Cecil responded by continuing to stare, and Edward crossed his arms, attempting what Cecil thought might have been a confident smile, but ended up being more of a half-hearted grimace.

"It's my role to provide support you and Yang, right?" He opened his jacket, revealing a glimmering cache of medicine that had been strapped to every inch of his clothing. "I'm not going to let you down."

"I'm not concerned about that," Cecil said softly, turning away from Edward and glaring at the sea of gray that was spread before them. He couldn't stop thinking about the raw pain in Edward's voice as he had begged the king to listen to them, how his own lack of credibility had forced the prince's wound to be re-opened so quickly.

Maybe that was why Yang didn't challenge the king as much as I would have liked – maybe he knew him well enough to understand Edward was the only one that could convince him…

But even so…hasn't Edward done enough?

The Red Wings…they were my comrades…my brothers in arms…the men I ordered to steal the Crystal of Water, which initiated this whole sordid affair…

I alone should be the one who bears the weight of Baron's sins…!

"E-Enemies!" came a sudden shriek from above, and Cecil gasped, blinking away the rain he hadn't realized was pooling on his lashes. Pouring from the forest was a group of soldiers all in the Baronian Kingsguard regimentals, although they didn't appear to being led by Baigan, or anyone else Cecil recognized. Cecil withdrew his blade, while Yang hurriedly sent his scout away, strapping a pair of metal claws on his fists and punching them through the air a few times to ensure a good fit. Edward took a defensive stance behind the two of them, ready to provide healing as necessary.

"Ready yourselves!" Yang called, and the monks in the watchtowers raised their bows, aiming for the outliers in the formation that was rushing for the castle. Just when Cecil could make out the whites of the soldiers' eyes beneath their helmets across the stone arch bridge, Yang raised his fist in the air a final time.

"Attack!"

Cecil and Yang dove into the fray, the clatter of steel erupting in the roar of the storm as a piercing fork of lightning tore across the sky. Cecil lowered his head as he blindly struck down anyone who crossed his path, knowing full-well that if he looked anybody in the eyes and saw someone he once knew, he wouldn't be able to bring himself go on. But disconnecting from his conscious self to mindlessly hack and slash his way through the throng became frighteningly easier with each subsequent blow – too easy, especially with how his combat had seemingly suffered as of late. With each spill of blood that stained his blade, his strength seemed to only multiply – an intoxicating adrenaline was coursing through his veins that had been missing for far too long, and it was enough to convince him he could take on the entire army for himself.

That's right…this burden is yours to bear alone, a low voice hissed over the gasp of someone's dying breath. The line has already been crossed – the stain in your heart will not wash away so easily any more.

"Who…?" Cecil gasped aloud, spinning around blindly as he withdrew his blade from a collapsing soldier. But a guttural, inhuman snarl suddenly reverberated in Cecil's left ear and sent him crashing back down to earth, his fury-induced hypnosis shattering when something frigid and slimy wrapped around his neck and tossed him through the air. Moments later, he felt the back of his head colliding with stone, the relentless patter of rain now replaced by the rush of churning water.

"Ugh…" Cecil gasped, his eyes rolling in the back of his head as he tried to make out what was happening. Hovering over his stunned body was a green-haired hag with pupil-less, wild white eyes that crackled with electricity, a smoky lime tail trailing from her bare navel and tightening around Cecil's neck. She resembled a Leshy, a phantasmal monster of legend that supposedly hunted men in the woods and ate them alive – but those didn't exist outside of storybooks – right? Just as his lungs felt as if they were about to burst, a blur of red shot across the sky, and the creature went flying out of sight, the icy smoke holding Cecil's throat hostage transforming into rain-soaked ash.

"Are you OK?" Yang appeared before Cecil, extending his hand. Cecil groaned at the effort of getting up, missing Yang's grasp a few times before he finally managed to lift his arm all the way, and felt himself getting yanked back to his feet. When he reached up to investigate his tender head, he realized he had been tossed half-way over the ledge of the bridge, and had only been inches away from a watery grave.

"I think so," Cecil murmured, blinking a few times as he looked around. He had expecting to see the bodies of soldiers strewn everywhere on the bridge, but to his shock, he could only make out stray helmets and ragged clothing that lifted away in the wind and sank silently beneath the moat's surface. "What happened? Where did everyone go?"

"We fought them off," Yang replied, stroking his mustache in thought as he shook his head. "But for Baron to have monsters in their ranks that they can control…this doesn't bode well for us, I fear."

Monsters… Cecil's hand unwittingly flew to his throat, which was still raw from the creature's surprise attack. All of these soldiers…they were monsters in disguise? He had been so enraptured in the frenzy of battle and riding on the high of his mysteriously replenished vitality, that he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. What sorcery does Baron have their hands in that such a feat is possible?

"Here, drink these!" Edward exclaimed, shoving two potions into Yang and Cecil's hands as he skidded up to them. "I did some experiments with mixing some of the medicines – this should make them more potent. We've got to ready ourselves for the next wave."

But in the time it took them to swallow their first mouthful of medicine, the guards from the watchtower started shouting again, and a familiar humming filled the sky that made both Cecil and Edward's stomachs fill with pure, molten dread. Cecil knew what the guards were screaming before his brain could unscramble their shouts against the raging storm, which had only heightened in its intensity:

"The Red Wings – they're here!"

Explosions and the sound of crashing rocks filled the air, and Cecil instinctively covered his ears with his hands, despite the protection of his armor. Edward dropped the half-full vial he was holding, wincing as it shattered at his feet.

The monsters attacking the front gate were just another distraction!

"We'll die like dogs out here!" Cecil shouted. One shot to the bridge, and all three of them would be swept out to the ocean in a multitude of pieces, never to be seen again.

"Retreat to the keep!" Yang called, and the group, along with the monks who were waiting for them behind the portcullis, hurried inside deeper within the first fortress. As Cecil, Yang and Edward regrouped, the monks went to work barricading the castle entrance that was now behind them.

"Forgive me. I've drawn you into a hopeless fight!" Yang moaned, shaking his head. "I was so confident they would not try to attack by air, especially in conditions like these!"

"I told you before, this fight is as much ours as anyone's," Cecil protested. "These monsters – they must be the ones supplementing the Red Wings' ranks so they CAN battle in such horrid conditions without consequence. But regardless of any of that – we haven't lost yet!"

"Oh, gods…" Edward gasped as the gates started to rattle beneath the barricades the monks had just installed. "They're…they're breaking through!"

Another wave of disguised soldiers and monsters burst through the gate, shoving the monk acolytes aside like a pile of rag dolls and knocking them out cold from the sudden stampede. The struggle to stem the enemy's tide was much more evident this time, thanks to the cramped arena and the delay in communicating that the village gates should be unbarred so that Cecil, Yang and Edward could flee. It was only when Edward managed to strum a successful Lullaby on his harp to make the remaining enemies fall asleep that Yang could bang on the doors and beg for someone to let them in while Cecil finished the napping invaders off.

The village had already fallen under enemy control by the time a badly injured shopkeeper managed to unbar the door, collapsing at Yang's feet just as soon as his hands dropped from the latches. Cecil could spy two airships hovering in the air, one over each wing of the village gates, countless figures sliding down ropes that had been slung from the sides of the ships that allowed them to land on the roofs of businesses and homes. Yang spun around nonchalantly as he tried to get a read on the situation, slashing a soldier across the throat that had been attempting a sneak attack and shaking his head.

"We simply cannot hold them here – the village is already too far gone! Fall back!"

They fought their way through to the next barricade, which thankfully, had survivors on the other side to help guide them through – they had been sheltered in a completely-enclosed structure that stood at the heart of the castle fortress that the Red Wings had not been able to sail their way into. As Cecil stumbled inside, he lifted his visor, gasping desperately for any oxygen that wasn't a mess of recycled humidity dripping from inside his armor, and spun around in confusion, feeling as if he had just been here not too long ago.

"Isn't the throne room just upstairs?"

"It's all right!" Yang assured. "No one is there, remember? We need only draw the enemy here –"

As if on cue, the door rattled menacingly and shattered before their eyes, splintering into hundreds of pieces as a squadron of Kingsguard soldiers slashed their way through, their swords glimmering with fresh blood that made something dark inside of Cecil twinge with anticipation. He could feel his fingers tapping longingly against the hilt of his blade, that delicious adrenaline filling him with overflowing power just like he had experienced outside the castle gates – that was, until that cursed Leshy got in the way. Over his comrades shouts of surprise, he could hear the same raspy voice whispering in his ear that made his chest tighten like hyperextended elastic:

Kill them…kill them all! Make them pay for innocent blood spilled with their lives!

Yang swept into his ready stance, his claw flashing in the flickering candlelight of the antechamber. "- and crush them!"

Before Yang could finish his order, Cecil charged forward, unleashing a powerful wave of darkness from his blade that sliced the false Kingsguard to ribbons, the strike even powerful enough to blow into the village and take out the next wave of monsters that had been clamoring behind them. As Edward and Yang gaped in astonishment, a loud crash rumbled above, dust and rubble pouring from the bowing rafters. Cecil became paralyzed in place in the aftermath of the attack, pupils dilated and heart racing as the world around him spun off of its axis.

W-What…what was that? That voice…that power…

It wasn't me…not any of it…!

He could feel the bile rising in his throat as he came to the realization that he had, for however brief a time, completely lost control of his body – and his mind, as well.

"This is no place for us to make a stand!" Edward cried as the ceiling groaned again, and Yang grunted under his breath, spinning around and fishing a pair of keys from his pocket and jamming one of them into the lock. As the latch snapped open, a bloodied monk shoved his way past the shattered remains of the village gates, slamming a fist equipped with a tiger's claw backwards into the face of the Imp that was trailing him as he called out to the others in a hoarse, desperate voice.

"W-Wait! Please! M-Master!"

"Hurry!" Yang cried, practically shoving the acolyte into the throne room and following right after. Cecil finally willed his legs to start slowly backing toward the door, his body drenched in sweat from the effort as the tip of his blade scraped along the dense slate floors, discharging an ear-piercing screech that made his eyes water. Yet more monsters began to force their way through, and Edward dove forward, grabbing Cecil's arm and dragging him the last few feet through the threshold. It didn't register to him that he had made it to the other side until Edward anxiously shoved a potion into his hands – Cecil could see that the prince's lips were moving, but he couldn't make out a damned word through the ringing in his ears. He brought the vial to his mouth, closing his eyes and tossing it back in one swig.

"…Are you doing all right?" Edward's voice began to pulse in and out, and Cecil nodded slightly, the nausea finally beginning to pass as the medicine's effects took hold of his senses.

"I'm fine," Cecil lied, draining the last of the potion and letting the vial drop to the floor. Edward shot him a look of disbelief, but couldn't bring himself to verbally object to a man he had just seen do…well, whatever Cecil had done in the other room – the radiance in his brilliant, yet depraved, stare was enough as it was to turn Edward to stone where he stood.

"I've locked the door," Yang announced, shoving the keys back into his pocket and crossing his arms as he began to anxiously pace the length of the throne room. "We must stop them here!"

"Where is the crystal?" Cecil frowned, and Yang paused in front of the throne, pointing northward.

"In the chamber above us!"

When Cecil and Edward's eyes followed, they couldn't see what Yang was talking about – he was merely pointing to a blank wall.

The injured monk, who had been leaning against the door and quietly tending to the wound slashed across his bare chest, raised an eyebrow as he casually pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the latch next to him with a defiant "click" that echoed throughout the chamber. Cecil, Edward and Yang halted their conversation as they turned to the acolyte in unison, identical masks of terror and disbelief carved into their faces.

"What are you doing!?" Yang gasped. The monk laughed uncontrollably as a pair of putrid, oozing claws emerged from the sleeves of his gi, black talons tearing into his wound and rending the flesh apart with a sickening tearing sound that almost sent Edward heaving into a nearby vase. The white, rubbery skin flopped to the ground like a dying fish as the gi shredded apart and fluttered to the floor, revealing a slime-drenched Sahagin.

Cecil threw his arm out to defend Edward as the Sahagin hissed between clenched teeth, spraying a bath of putrid black saliva across the throne room floor and using the door as a springboard with its sticky, webbed feet to throw itself into the party like a live grenade. Yang swung on his heel and shot his leg into the air, crushing the beast's solar plexus with one effortless blow as it flopped to the floor helplessly and disintegrated into a pile of ash.

But the damage had already been done – a heaving pile of monsters began pouring in the throne room at an alarming rate, and Yang backed away despondently, swallowing the curses that had bubbled up to the tip of his tongue.

"There are too many of them," Cecil growled, swinging around and elbowing a monster disguised as a soldier in the face before introducing his sword to its gut.

"We've no choice," Yang sighed. "We'll make our last stand in the crystal chamber!" He turned to flee toward the stretch of wall behind the throne, smashing his hand into an unassuming banner hanging from the wall embroidered with the king's coat of arms. A low-grade quake shook the room as the empty wall Yang had pointed to earlier suddenly swung out toward them, revealing a hidden door.

"Come!" Cecil commanded, decking another monster before grabbing hold of Edward and making a run for it. But as Edward staggered behind, not able to catch his footing to match Cecil's speed, he felt something slippery under his boot and went flying, falling flat on his back into the goop the Sahagin had spewed everywhere.

"Agh!" Edward screamed, covering his face with his hands as a Leshy leading the charge shed her soldier's skin mid-gallop, licking her lips in anticipation with a bloated, blue forked-tongue before launching herself upon him.

"Edward!" Cecil cried, gesturing desperately for Yang to keep running toward the crystal room as he reversed course and lifted his sword into the air, taking a running leap. With one clean swipe, the Leshy's head went rolling away from her body, staring morbidly up at them as it slid under the king's throne and got stuck. Cecil dragged Edward out from beneath her decaying body, pulling him through the doorway of the crystal chamber that Yang was keeping open for them. As soon as Edward's cloak fluttered across the threshold, Yang pulled it shut behind them with all his weight, latching it with the second key he had been carrying.

At long last, it was just the three of them.

"T-There," Yang panted, sliding against the door as he closed his eyes. "Even if the monsters saw the hidden switch, this door will now not open for anyone else, lest they have the key."

Cecil thought back to the monk who had spoken to Yang at the castle gates.

"…And only two people in the entirety of Fabul possess keys? If you're one, who is the other?"

"His Highness, of course."

Cecil drew in a deep, shaking breath, pushing himself away from the door as Edward fumbled in his supplies for yet more potions, still shaken from his close call with death. Despite the chaos and the destruction occurring just feet away in the throne room, the crystal chamber was utterly, blissfully silent. Cecil lifted his gaze to get a better look at their new home for the time being, now that his eyes were finally adjusting to the somber dim. Identical to Mysidia, a mirrored dais was risen in the center of the chamber, and floating silently above was the Crystal of Wind, the same glittering blue as the Crystal of Water before Cecil's hands had robbed it of its light. Cascading in the surroundings of the dais were ivory arches polished to perfection, each supported by a pair of mirrored columns that rendered the illusion of the crystal chamber being infinite in size. Cecil pressed his lips together as he stepped closer to the steps leading up the dais, his eyes flashing twenty-fold in the surrounding columns as the glare of the crystal drenched the exposed part of his face like a spill of moonlight.

Wait… Cecil shivered as he lifted his chin, taking in the twinkling spread of stars that hung high above them, pinpricks of splendor that shimmered with a divine aurora as the Wind Crystal beneath slowly revolved in place. I've seen this place before...

No…I've been here before.

Edward collapsed on the floor, deciding to give up on any pretense of not being wholly exhausted, his hands shaking as he tried to salve a small wound beneath a tear in his jacket he hadn't even realized he had received until now. Yang crossed his arms as he joined Cecil at the dais, following Cecil's stare and mistaking his disorientation for curiosity.

"They look like real stars, don't they? But the truth is, they're crystal shards embedded into the ceiling – just an optical illusion crafted by a monk long, long ago to aid in meditation rites held here."

"Crystal shards…" Cecil murmured, clenching his eyes shut. Why…why can't I remember? The blackout in the antechamber – does it have anything to do with my mind failing me?

How much longer will I have until the darkness is able to obscure even what's most important in my heart…?

Suddenly, the crystal chamber's peaceful silence was shattered by the single, warning click of a turning lock. Cecil's eyes snapped open as he turned on his heel, withdrawing his blade and pointing it toward the opening door. Yang gasped next to him, his hands instantly flying into his pockets to ensure that his key had not been somehow spirited away – his fingers clenched over the familiar, intricately carved bow that could not be mistaken for any other key in the kingdom, and his eyebrows knitted in confusion as he watched the shuddering door.

"Your Highness…?"

The door slid open the rest of the way, the light from the throne room now blinding as it spilled into the artificial twilight of the crystal chamber. A statuesque shadow appeared in the threshold; resolute, yet graceful, strides carrying the figure into the room. Cecil heard the click of something metal striking tile, and the figure paused, tilting its head.

"It's been some time, Cecil."

Cecil felt as if all of the air had been sucked out of the room, his breath seizing in his chest.

That voice…!

And out of the shadows came not a monster…but Kain Highwind.

Cecil gasped and felt his sword slip from his fingers, the deafening clatter reverberating throughout the chamber. He ran up to Kain and threw his arms around him, hardly believing that the man standing before him could be anything but a cruel illusion – but he was real, so very real. Cecil could feel the rhythmic beat of his best friend's heart under the same emerald armor only befitting of the leader of the Baronian Dragoons, glimmering as finely as ever despite being drenched in rain and torn to hell with scratches and chips.

"Kain! You're alive!" Cecil exclaimed, pulling back from their one-sided embrace and full-heartedly grinning for the first time since they had lost each other. Despite everything horrible that was happening just outside that door, Cecil suddenly felt as if the tide had finally turned in their favor. There was simply no way they could lose this fight with Kain here now.

"I am," Kain replied. His mouth was smiling, but his voice was ice-cold – and it wasn't just his usual aristocratic drawl, either. Cecil peered up at him, his grin faltering slightly as he took a few steps back. Maybe he had been a little too enthusiastic in his welcome? Or had Kain been injured trying to make his way to them? The castle had to have been crawling with monsters by now, after all…

"Are you feeling all right?" Cecil blinked. "You seem…"

"I've never been better," Kain assured him, smiling more. "Forgive me…I guess I'm just as stunned to find you here as you are me."

Thank the gods he was spared from harm, Cecil thought, shaking his head in relief. But they would have plenty of time to catch up on what had happened later – they were kind of in the middle of a crisis, after all. "You'll fight then?"

Kain nodded. "Of course. That's the very reason why I've come."

"Good," Cecil sighed. "I don't really know where to start, but I'll brief you fast as I can." He started to turn toward Yang and Edward, who were staring, dumbstruck, at the reunion. "These two men are…"

"Ah, but, Cecil…" Kain interrupted, taking Cecil's shoulder and effortlessly swinging him back so that they faced each other, Cecil wincing as Kain's fingers dug into the vulnerable crook of his neck right between his armor and his helmet. "…The one I'll fight is you!"

He then roughly released Cecil's shoulder, laughing as Cecil stumbled backward, relishing at the sight of the light of the crystal flickering in his best friend's eyes like a candle taking its last gasps of life in a windstorm.

"Kain…!?" Cecil blinked. "Is this a joke?"

Kain burst out laughing so hard that he had to clutch his stomach. "Have you lost your hearing in your time away? Not a joke – a duel, Cecil!"

Cecil shook his head in disbelief, still not comprehending what Kain could possibly be going on about despite the sirens going off in his head. His eyes darted to the key hanging from Kain's waist – the key to the crystal chamber – and they next fell upon the tip of Kain's lance…it was hard to make out in the shadows, but it almost seemed to be stained with blood…

How exactly did Kain get the key…? Cecil swallowed, his throat clenching as he glanced back at Yang and Edward. Yang was staring at Kain as well, and Cecil realized that the monk could have only been drawing the same fearful conclusion as he.

This isn't real.

This isn't real.

This is...

Cecil took another cautious step back toward the dais. "A duel, Kain? What do you mean?"

Kain suddenly stopped laughing and without warning, jumped over Cecil, cutting him off from Yang and Edward and swinging his lance in the air as Cecil spun around in shock. He jabbed the head of his weapon against Cecil's throat with just enough constraint to carve a mark into his armor, the screech of the fresh laceration ear-piercing. Cecil gritted his teeth as he gripped the end of Kain's lance, shoving it away.

"Draw your blade!" Kain kicked Cecil's abandoned shadowblade back over to him, running his tongue across the top of his teeth. Cecil froze as the sword struck his boot – he had gone completely numb, save for the sensation of his heart hammering furiously against his chest and the very real possibility of becoming sick all over the crystal chamber floor. As Cecil's fingers twitched in hesitation, Kain decided to help him along, taking another high leap into the air and this time smashing Cecil with a punishing blow to the back of head as payback for not following simple instructions.

But you never did take me seriously, did you Cecil?

Cecil choked on his scream as he fell to his knees, clutching his helmet in an effort to stop his head from ringing like a church bell. Using his lance for leverage, Kain swung his body around, kicking Cecil backward so that he flew into a pillar, the attached mirror instantly shattering from Cecil's weight as he slumped forward to the floor among the wreckage. Kain strolled up to him and planted his foot on Cecil's chest.

"Cecil!" Edward cried, he and Yang pounding down the dais steps. Kain laughed again as he glared over his shoulder at the interlopers, wagging his finger with sneer.

"If you come even an inch closer, I daresay you will live to regret it. Or maybe not – I haven't decided what to do with the lot of you yet." Yang and Edward skidded to a halt as Kain emphasized his point by jabbing Cecil in this chest, though his strike was weak enough for the lance to be deflected by Cecil's armor.

"Why, Kain!?" Cecil cried, sinking beneath Kain's boot as he gave in to the rise of tears stinging the back of his eyes. Kain swung his lance again in reply and gave Cecil another strike in the side of his head. As the world flipped upside down yet again, stars exploding in his vision, Cecil could smell the brackish scent of his own blood filling his nostrils before he could taste it seeping down the back of his throat.

"I will not answer your questions!" Kain hissed, shoving Cecil harder against the shattered pillar as he reached down with his free hand, ripping the helmet from Cecil's head. Another trickle of blood was revealed to be matted in his hair, clotting along the side of his right temple.

"What–what's come over you…?" Cecil moaned, his eyes still defiantly daring to meet Kain's. "Even you've turned against me now…?" Kain shook his head, aiming the tip of the lance to Cecil's forehead.

"Be. Silent!"

Yang and Edward glanced at each other fearfully. If either of them acted with haste, Kain could easily finish off Cecil with one thrust – and the fiend had eyes all around the crystal chamber thanks to the mirrors embedded in the pillars. What the hell were they supposed to do?

"This is the end, Cecil," Kain smiled, tilting his head as his ponytail slid over his shoulder. "Let me ease your suffering…consider it my last merciful act in honor of our friendship." Before Yang or Edward could make their move, Kain took one last swing of his lance, a sickening crack exploding in the still chamber air as the base connected with Cecil's skull.

Fireworks exploded behind Cecil's eyes as another rush of blood filled his throat, and as he plummeted into the welcoming, consoling darkness, the memory of the crystal chamber – and the desperate, despair-ridden voice from his dreams that had called for him over and over – finally came rushing back to him.