As Chaos' right hand, Garland was privy to certain knowledge. Chaos' innermost thoughts, his plans, his musings, everything.
That included his suspicions.
Chaos tapped his claws against the armrest of his chair in the Edge of Madness. Not in any order or rhythm, which told Garland he was contemplating something difficult. "I want you to find Ultimecia."
"Ultimecia, lord?"
"I know the Emperor is plotting against me. And I know he's involved Ultimecia. Go and talk to her, and find out what it is he is planning. Whether or not she tells you, let her know I'm watching them both."
"You do not want me to force her to talk?"
Chaos' fingers drummed harder, faster for a moment, then relaxed again to their slow and random taps. " . . . No. It is not imperative that I find out at this moment. Depending upon their reactions, I will know how frightened they truly are of me. And that will be a telling clue." He paused, and the tapping stopped. "Those two have been a thorn in my side for cycles, now."
"If I may, why not just destroy them now? This is not the first time they have plotted against you directly."
"Because when they are actually working for me, they are valuable allies. Unfortunately, the two of them are no longer worth the hassle. This insubordination is too often a nuisance and a hinderance."
"Understood. I shall go now." Garland put his hand over his heart and bowed to Chaos, then called a portal and stepped through. With no set destination in mind, he instead swept through the main world, hoping to find her away from her gateway. He shot through the Land of Discord and over the Bahamut Isles. He traveled all the way to the Mirage Sandsea without luck before he decided to enter her gateway there.
He made the right choice. By the time he worked his way through the gateway and into her castle, he found her there, on the center platform. Garland jumped down and landed there behind her, shaking the ground where she stood, but she didn't even flinch.
"Garland," she said, without turning to look at him.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing, at this very moment. Clearly," she said. She threw her arms to the side and gestured to the empty castle around her.
"You know my meaning. What are you doing with the Emperor?"
One of her thin, painted eyebrows lifted, and she turned to look at him, crossing her arms like an indignant child. "Now, now, Garland, isn't it rude to pry into others' business?"
"Not if this 'business', in any shape or form, threatens Chaos."
"Of course. Did he send you out, or are you just going to tattle?"
"That is none of your concern."
She dropped the innocent look and glared at him with all the force she could muster. "Then I suppose my business is none of your concern."
Garland growled his frustration before he could help it, but then remembered Chaos' instructions. " . . . You two are on thin ice. If the Emperor's schemes lead you to cross either of us, it will be the end of you."
She chuckled once, and waved dismissively. "It always is. Are you finished?"
"We're watching you. Tread lightly." He figured that was as good a place to leave it as any. She could think that meant whatever she wanted.
He left before she could get the last word in.
"How may I be of assistance?" Cosmos asked, smiling sweetly at Rosa.
"Rosa, please," Cecil said behind her. She hadn't even realized he had followed her after she spoke to all of the other warriors. "I think you're making this into a much larger issue than it is-"
"I will determine the importance of issues that deal with my memory, thank you."
"There isn't much to tell," he insisted, "I promise. It's not as horrible as you're making it out to be-" Not as horrible?
"Then tell me!" Rosa said, spinning on her heels to face him. "One minute the details are so damaging you wouldn't dare speak of it, then the next I'm overly upset about something small. Which is it?" Rosa stared into his face, watching him squirm under her scrutiny.
"It isn't that, that the details are damaging, I just would rather you hear what happened from Kain's point of view, so that I don't misconstrue-"
"At this point, I don't care if you do!" Rosa said.
His shoulders slumped, and he paused for a second to look away from her and collect himself. "Rosa, don't you understand that I have an obligation to him as his friend?"
Rosa rubbed her hand down the side of her face. "Of course I understand that. I think it's admirable that you would go to such lengths to protect his honor. Good for you, Cecil," she said. "But I also think wanting answers isn't being terribly unreasonable! This isn't just some minuscule detail about the workings of the world, or something. You are deliberately withholding information from me - do you know how upset that makes me? I came here with nothing but my name. You befriended me almost instantly, and you explained so much about this world and this war and for that I am so grateful. But now you have a piece of information that holds personal importance to me and you refuse to tell me. How do you think that makes me feel?"
"I told you my reasons for withholding it-"
"Well thank you for your lack of assistance, but now I'm seeking answers from someone else. If you'd excuse me," she said, gesturing to Cosmos. She offered a shallow curtsy to end the conversation with Cecil. The entire time they spoke, Cosmos sat patiently with her hands clasped in her lap, face a neutral mask. Her eyes flicked between the two of them, but Rosa could tell she hadn't taken a single side in the argument.
Or else, she was hiding her opinion very carefully.
"I need to know about Kain," Rosa blurted out. Cosmos blinked back at her in reply, clearly not expecting the request. Or, perhaps, the force with which she said it. "I need to know what he did - I remember a few things but I - he - " She couldn't even speak through her anger. In her head the argument replayed, ending with 'Perhaps you're doing yourself a favor. By not remembering me,' and, 'Cecil is not to blame for what you did, and neither am I for remembering it!'
Rosa shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "How much do you know of him? From before he was called here?"
Cecil bristled uncomfortably next to her, and grimaced as though in pain. Rosa ignored him.
"I'm not sure I und-"
"You call us here if you deem us worthy to fight for the light against the darkness. You've said that a few times, Warrior's said it a few times . . . Which means you have to know something about what we did before we got here, right? What I mean is, you have to have some way to view and evaluate our actions and deem us worthy. Is that not so?"
"Yes, in a manner of speaking," Cosmos said slowly. "When I amass enough power to scan the dimensions, I search for people with strong lights. Cecil, Kain, and you were the brightest in your dimension. I selected him first. The inhabitants called it the-"
"The Overworld, right. I know that. I'm from there," Rosa said tersely. "What about him?"
Cosmos paused, her face falling ever so slightly at Rosa's rudeness. " . . . I cannot see the individual actions of people. I only see the lights. The very first time I looked upon the Overworld, his light made itself known. A purple-tinted, but no less noble light that I could see. I looked closer at his light, and I saw him. A Dragoon Knight from the Kingdom of Baron. His heart was true and his light was strong. I summoned him based on that."
" . . . So you can't tell me anything about what happened between us when the three of us were still in Baron together," Rosa finished for her.
Cosmos shook her head slowly. "I cannot."
Rosa turned back to Cecil and said, "And you won't." She let her frustration show, cursing under her breath. "This is ridiculous! Cosmos, don't you know anything about this war you called us to? Every time I ask a question you redirect me to another warrior. I'm already fed up with being turned away," she told Cosmos honestly. "And don't you know anything about the people you summoned to fight for you? You know Kain's betrayed us, right? Golbez controlled him at one point, did you know that?"
"Rosa-!" Cecil started, but she hushed him with a sharp 'shhh!'
"You mean . . . while he was traveling with you in the Overworld?" Cosmos asked. Something about the question seemed loaded. There was some other side of meaning to it but Rosa couldn't place it. "I did not know that. While he has been here with me he has been true. Everything he does is for the sake of his friends, and knowing what he's done before does not change my opinion of him. I'm sorry I cannot answer-"
"You said you called Kain first out of the three of us. How long ago was that?"
" . . . "
"You don't know," Rosa answered, and Cosmos's eyebrows furrowed as she looked down into the water. "You cannot even tell me how long you have been fighting this war. How many warriors have you seen pass through? How often does a warrior die? How often do you summon new warriors? Are you winning this war?"
"Rosa-" Cecil started, but she didn't let him interject.
"I've not been here for more than- . . . than . . . " she trailed off, assuming she just knew off the top of her head how long she had been here. But then she remembered that there wasn't a day or a night time, and she hadn't checked Sanctuary's shadow in a long while, like Firion had said, not until before her and Cecil had sparred. Her cheeks heated in embarrassment, but she wasn't about to give up on her anger. " . . . No more than two days at the most, and I'm already done with all of this. I'm fed up with not knowing who I am or where I'm from or what happened there, and I am twice as fed up with not knowing what I'm doing here."
"I'm sorry," Cosmos said sadly.
"You keep saying that, but it doesn't change anything. All I want is to get my memory back, and go home to Baron. If my pursuit doesn't agree with either of you, then I can advise you only to stay out of my way at this point. If you wish to aid me, it would be most welcome but neither of you are willing to do that. Do not blame me for doing what I need to do."
Rosa looked past Cecil, hoping she remembered the direction that Kain had stormed off in after their argument. She had thought he left, but luckily he stopped just outside the barrier on the other end of Sanctuary. She pushed past Cecil, and he turned to the side to let her through.
"Where are you going?" he asked her.
"To speak to Kain one more time," she told him. "Perhaps he will be willing to answer some questions if I ask in earnest." How ironic would that be, she thought, if the one person she initially didn't trust in the slightest proved to be her greatest source of information.
Cosmos and Cecil both watched her go, and when she was a safe distance away, he sighed defeatedly. His entire carriage seemed to deflate, and he kept his eyes on the ground, not looking at Cosmos.
"Cecil . . . " she began softly, probably to try and advise him on the necessity of patience to abate the bitterness and heartache he felt. He didn't want her advice. Not at that moment.
"It's alright. She . . . she's frustrated, and she has every right to be. I haven't been Purged in so long. I don't really remember what it was like to wake up with nothing. She's struggling, and I mustn't fault her."
"You're still allowed to be upset. And if you are still upset with me, I will not fault you, either."
"I am upset, Cosmos, but not with you anymore . . . " Cosmos heard the trail-off in his tone, and she cocked her head to the side, clearly asking that he say more. And he wanted to. He wanted to air his grievances to Cosmos, if only to alleviate the heaviness and sorrow in his chest. But she couldn't change anything. And neither could he. Reverting back to the anger he had when he first found out Rosa was called would only sound like complaining. He somewhat changed the subject, instead telling her what exactly he was sad about now. "This Rosa is not the woman I knew," he said. "She is not the soft, caring woman I've known since I was a child, and she's not the woman I fell in love with. She is . . . Hardened. Stressed. By the loss of her memory. I am sad she does not know peace. And, if you would permit me a moment of selfishness, I am sad for myself. I just want her to remember me, fully. I'm still in love with her and I wish she still loved me." Cecil took a moment to think. "I'm not mad at you, Cosmos."
"You are not mad at me, but you are still angered by the fact that she was called," Cosmos said, scooping the thought from his mind anyway.
"Well, yes - in a way. The fact that we fight this conflict doesn't anger me. Light and Darkness are born to fight, destined to be opposites. I should know this best of all. Where I take offense is Rosa's involvement in this conflict. I'd rather fight and die a hundred times than subject her to this."
Cecil began pacing slowly, unsure of what else to do to work off some of his extra discomfort. He happened to look up and see the Warrior staring, mostly at Cosmos. Rather than stare back, he watched Rosa's back as she finally made it to Kain and started taking to him, moving her arms. "I had hoped that the time when Rosa and I saw each other would be one of joy. I had pictured us in Baron together, where I could hold her safe in my arms. Instead I came face-to-face with a woman who had never seen me before in her life, that she could remember. She looked at me with nothing but suspicion, and I've never been looked at with such disdain - not by her. No love, no familiarity, and it hurt me."
He fiddled idly with the ring around his left hand ring finger, using his thumb to twist it around and around. Ever since she was called to the cycles he was hyperaware of it. Where the metal touched his skin and the pink hue of the matching rose gold and how much it weighed on his finger. The symbol of what was supposed to be their eternity.
Her beautiful, round, hooded eyes were so richly green, it was as though every shade of the color was swirled into one. Her sharp nose accented the slenderness of her face, rounded out by the fullness of her rosy cheeks. The curvature of her lips, already chiseled; and when they turned up into a smile - so deep her eyes crinkled with it - he knew joy as well. And when she talked to him. Just talked. About her day, or a memory, or a political strategy with him . . .
His heart twinged again in sadness. He wanted her back.
"What's wrong with Kain?" Cosmos asked, bringing her hands to her chest and wringing them anxiously. Cecil looked up, right as he stumbled backwards and shook his head hard. He cried out, loud enough to alert everyone else in Sanctuary, and doubled over, throwing his hands up to either side of his head.
It looked morbidly familiar, and Cecil realized why.
"Let me ease your suffering," Kain said, raising his lance to stab him where he lay.
Yang tried to intervene. "You'll do nothing-" he yelled, running forward, but Kain warded him off with a swipe of his lance. He turned back to Cecil and smiled.
Cecil shut his eyes. Turned away.
"Stop!" he heard. And he knew that voice. His eyes opened in shock to see Rydia and Rosa running in together. Her eyes flicked in horror between Kain and Cecil, and-
Rosa took a step back, shaking her head softly.
Kain let out another sound that choked off, and without warning he ripped his helmet off and slammed it to the ground. "Rosa!" Cecil yelled, and he took off towards them. "Rosa, get away from him!"
Everything froze for a moment. Kain with his hands to his temples, panting so deeply his chest heaved underneath his armor. Rosa with her hands flexing at her sides, ready to call her bow, the other warriors, looking on in confusion. He called his lance and Cecil cried out, "No!" before he could stop himself. He made to point it at Rosa, but at the last second dropped it, recoiling from it like it burned him.
Then the Emperor appeared.
I got a Curious Cat profile! Stop by and ask me anything about Petal! Tell me your favorite part so far, ask me for 'Director's Commentary' for your favorite part, tell me why you like it, send me your predictions for future chapters, anything!
curiouscat . me / Keyblader41996
This chapter was just so fun to write! I love Ultimecia and how awful she is something just for fun. I love Cosmos and I love writing Rosa's attempts to figure out what is going on and her frustration when she can't. And I love the interactions between everyone from FFIV. The memory is reminiscent of when Kain hesitates after seeing Rosa in the DS version of FFIV! Please leave a comment if you have the time!
~Keyblader