A/N: Finally got this one done. Once again, writers block is a pain.


Tower of Zot


Kairi: "I bet that Whyt what trying to give you a hint that Rydia was alive."

Sasuke: "That's exactly what I would find out later. Apparently he had been following us since Mysidia. And when he saw the despair I was in, he wanted to restore my hope in some way."

Sora: "Sounds like Rydia was looking out for you, even after...separating from you all."

Sasuke: *chuckles* "You have no idea."

Yurisa: "I'm amazed that you were able to pick yourself back up from that rather quickly."

Kyo: "Yeah, that couldn't have been easy."

Sasuke: "Sometimes all it takes is the right push to get out of your funk."


The Nobody attack on Troia was successfully quelled. There was a lot of property damage, several injuries, but luckily no deaths. The girl I saved, Leonora, and her mother both thanked me again, and the Troian guard all praised me and the others for our help, believing that without us, things could've ended a lot worse.

As we were escorted back to the Epopts' chamber, Cecil and the others told me what happened in Lodestone Cave. Cecil had chosen to leave his armor and shield behind to lighten his load, but chose to still bring his sword, hoping it wouldn't hinder him too much. Unfortunately the magnetic field still proved too much for him, and he couldn't help at all when they got to the Dark Elf. They were put into a corner when he pelted them with his strong magic, when suddenly they heard a melody play on a familiar harp. The melody actually came from the Whisper Weed that Edward gave Cecil. While it was soothing to the group, the song irritated the Dark Elf's ears so much that his magic got weaker and, more importantly, he was unable to maintain the magnetic barrier any longer. Once the barrier was down and Cecil was able to use his sword again, the party were able to get their second wind, and put the elf into a corner instead. The elf transformed into a dragon in desperation, but they were nonetheless able to slay him, and take back the Earth Crystal.

After they told their story, I told them what happened to me. About Xigbar, and how one rescue managed to restore my drive. I left out the part about Whyt though, mostly because I didn't know what to make of it at the time.

"I'm sorry you had to find out that your master's comrade was a traitor," Cecil said sympathetically.

"It's alright..." I reply. "It's not like those two were really friends anyway. Honestly, Braig wasn't much of a friendly person to begin with. In fact, the only person I noticed he was chummy with was Xehanort. So in hindsight, it's not really that surprising that he was working with him. Regardless though, now that I know who Xigbar is, and that he's helping Golbez, this has become all the more personal for me. There's no way I'm going to sit by and let him, the Heartless, or Nobodies wreak havoc on this world! Doing so just doesn't sit right with me!"

Cid chuckled. "Now that sounds more like the Sasuke Cecil told me about!"

"Indeed," said Yang. "It is good to see your fire burning strong again."

I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "I'm... sorry for worrying you guys back there. I...don't know what came over me."

"Fate dragged you into some harsh circumstances," said Tellah, "and you were forced to grieve for multiple people in such a short amount of time. Hard for anyone not to become consumed by despair. And yet, a youngster like yourself was able to pull himself out of it when it mattered most."

The engineer then scratched his head. "What I can't figure is how he was able to learn a paladin technique like Flash Cover."

"The light of Mount Ordeals Shrine saw fit to give young Sasuke a fraction of the power Cecil received upon becoming a paladin," the sage answered. "It is how he is able to use white magic."

"And that's not all! His successful execution of a sword technique his father created," The monk added. "The Crescent Moon Dance, was it? It was quite impressive." I had used that technique again after regrouping with them during the attack, so they all saw it.

The paladin then put his hand on my shoulder. "You really have come into your own, Sasuke. I'm proud of you. And I think your master would be too."

"Thanks!" I replied as I walked with everyone with a new sense of purpose. After all, when I first joined Cecil, I was just along for the ride. My only motive was to find a new direction to go. I didn't have any personal stake in this journey to drive me, aside from just helping my new friends and protecting any innocents we came across. But now knowing a traitor to my home kingdom was involved in this world's crisis, I had a new drive to keep me going on this journey. Xigbar... I still had questions for him, and I was going to get answers. And hopefully, once we stopped Golbez, I could bring that one-eyed scumbag to justice.

Soon we came to the Epopts' chamber, we see Captain Jessie finishing her report to the eight clerics before turning to us.

Sister Rosemary spoke first. "We heard what you and your friends did for the people of Troia."

"We cannot thank you enough for helping our soldiers save our kingdom!" said Sister Gloria.

"Paladin Cecil," said Sister Agatha as they all bowed. "You have our eternal gratitude."

"It was nothing," said Cecil. "I'm just glad we got back in time." He then pulled out the brown Earth Crystal.

The Epopts' reactions were instant.

"Oh my goodness!"

"The Earth Crystal!"

"You have retrieved it!"

"The gods have blessed us with good fortune!"

It took a second for them to calm down before Sister Heather spoke. "Thank you, Sir Cecil."

"Now," said Sister Miriam, "If you will allow us a couple hours to pray to it, and restore some of its blessing to our land, we will hold our end of the deal."

"Very well." Cecil nodded before handing over the crystal and turning to the rest of us. "In the mean time, why don't we pay Edward a visit. We owe him big time." We all nodded in agreement before we headed to the infirmary.

We entered the room to find Edward lying in bed with the doctor checking him. The bard looked at us and said, "You have returned."

"Thanks only to your help, Edward," replied Cecil.

"There is no need to thank me."

"What exactly was that weed you gave us?" I asked.

"Whisper Weed can transfer sound through its leaves. If one leaf is separated from the rest of the plant, whatever sound reaches it can be heard through the rest of the plant, and vice versa." Interesting. Like an organic radio. "In other words I heard everything that happened since you left." Edward then turned to me. "I know you've already moved past it, but...I wanna offer my apologies for what you were going through."

I sighed in response. "It's alright... I've been...struggling to keep myself together lately. I also apologize for barely speaking to you last time."

The bard shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I could tell what was on your mind, the look on your face reminded me of myself after losing my parents and Anna. Anyway, using the weeds on your person and mine, I was able to hear when you all were in trouble with the Dark Elf, so I played on my harp knowing the melody would reach your end."

Cid then scratched his head. "What I don't understand is how that worked. As soon as that critter heard that song he could barely fight back."

"I first heard that melody back when I traveled as a bard. I recall it being a song to repel fey creatures... So I thought it might work."

Yang put his hands together and bowed. "We owe you our lives."

"No I only-ugh..." Edward had attempted to wave his hands dismissively only for him to wince in pain.

"Edward!" we all shouted.

"Please be still!" the doctor instructed before she sighed and turned to us. "We have been trying to tell him that his body is in no condition to move, especially his badly damaged arm. But when he heard you were in trouble he insisted on playing on his harp, despite how much pain he was putting himself through."

"Whoa... You endured that much pain for us?" I asked in awe.

Suddenly Tellah raised his arm. "Curaja!" He then covered the Damcyan prince with a healing light. I don't know how much damage that healed, but it seemed to ease his pain.

Edward looked at the father of his late lover with bewilderment. "Tellah?"

"I have long wondered what Anna saw in you, boy," the old sage said. "But now I can see it myself. Courage, rising from integrity. She was fortunate to have your love."

"Tellah..." the bard bowed his head. "I'm so sorry for running off with her without your consent."

Tellah shook his head. "It is I who should apologize. I thought you just a player trying to woo her with false charm, and a coward for running. But I was wrong. You truly have earned her love. And I was too blind and stubborn to see it. I...honestly don't blame you two for running away. If she had still been alive now...I would give you my blessing."

"...Thank you..."

"Now rest and heal your wounds, I promise you I shall avenge Anna for the both of us."

It was nice to see Tellah finally accept his daughter's lover. Maybe now the two of them will find peace.

"Edward," Cecil said with a smile. "I look forward to fighting alongside you again."

Edward closed his eyes. "..Anna... At last I think I may understand why you did what you did." He looked at all of us. "Please take care everyone."

We left to let the bard prince rest, and decided to pass the time in the mess hall, because we definitely needed a meal after a rough day. We quietly discussed how we're gonna handle our deal with Golbez, and unfortunately we couldn't come up with a definitive plan. The only conclusion we could draw was to hope we find a way to rescue Rosa and keep the crystal out of their hands.

Soon, Captain Jessie fetched us, telling us that the Epopts are ready to hold up their end of the bargain. Once back in their chamber, Sister Miriam approached with the Earth Crystal. "Thank you for your patience. As promised, we will loan you the crystal."

Jessie seemed unsure about this whole deal, and I don't blame her. "I mean no disrespect, but are you sure about this, your graces? Entrusting the crystal to people we hardly know, and so soon after getting it back?"

"This man was chosen to bear the holy light for a reason," said Sister Sophia. "We are sure he has no ill intent for it."

"But what if he loses the Earth Crystal, and it falls into evil hands? Like this Golbez person we've heard rumors about?" Boy... Way to hit the nail on the head without realizing it.

"It is a concern, yes," said Sister Danielle. "It is said that the nature of the Crystals' power changes depending on the bearer. If they fall into the wrong hands, who knows what could happen?"

"But the gods have told us that the fate of our world rests in the hands of the paladin and his friends," said Sister Catherine. "Even if he does somehow lose it to the forces of darkness, we have faith that he will retrieve it again, and return it to us." Yeah, no pressure right? I really hoped that their faith in us is warranted.

Cecil looked a little nervous, but he managed a determined expression. "You have my word, I will see to it that the Earth Crystal is returned."

Sister Miriam smiled as she handed the paladin the crystal. "We will pray for your victory, Sir Cecil."

"May the gods watch over you all!" all eight sisters called at once.

With that, we took our leave.

We exited Troia and headed for the Enterprise. But as soon as we got to the clearing, we saw a red airship sitting right next to ours. Standing out from the bow, was none other than Kain.

"I see you have acquired the Earth Crystal," said the dragoon.

"Where's Rosa!?" shouted Cecil.

"Board your ship and follow me to the Tower of Zot. You will find her there."

"The Tower of Zot!" exclaimed Cid.

But the enemy ship didn't wait for us and their ship took off. We made haste to the Enterprise and took off after them.

As we followed them, I asked, "What's the Tower of Zot?"

"An old legend," the engineer answered. "I've never seen it myself, but there have been sightings from our own airship force. It is an ancient fortress...said to be floating high in the sky."

"A flying fortress?"(1)

"Yes... No one knows the origin of it. Some believe it is alien in nature. Others say it is connected to another mysterious structure, in the mountains near Eblan, the Tower of Babil. No one has ever been able to explore either place."

"That's not all," Tellah interjected. "Rumor has it, that the Tower of Zot is also the domain of the Archfiend of Wind. If that's true, it makes sense that Golbez would make it his base of operations." Well that was great. Another Archfiend, another player to worry about.

"The tower's supposedly at a higher altitude than even I've ever taken my airships," Cid added as he fiddled with a few levers. "Hang tight, men."

We continued to follow Kain's ship, until it disappeared into a large swirl of clouds. Undeterred, Cid took our ship into the clouds. For a moment, we couldn't see jack, but soon we found ourselves in the eye of the swirling clouds, where we got a perfect view of a floating stone tower, no doubt the Tower of Zot. Not gonna lie, a structure like that floating in the sky was a sight to behold.

As we got closer, we soon spotted an opening large enough for two ships to fit through. In fact we could see what we assumed was Kain's ship docked inside it. And so, we landed next to it, only to find that their ship was completely vacant.

As we exited our ship and walked toward the only entrance we could see, Cecil shouted, "Kain! Where are you?! Show yourself!"

"Now, now," Kain's voice echoed throughout the structure, with no clear indication of where it came from. Either this place had an intercom system, or Kain is using some kind of sorcery to project his voice, something I don't think a dragoon is capable of...not on his own. "All in good time. First, a certain someone would like a word."

And then a familiar baritone voice took Kain's place. "Well done, Cecil. Going from Dark Knight to Paladin, slaying two of my archfiends, and retrieving the Earth Crystal from the Dark Elf. I must admit, you have exceeded even my expectations."

"Golbez!" Tellah shouted with venom. "You wretch! Show yourself!"

Golbez seemed to ignore the old man. "Rosa stands beside me at the top of this tower. Bring the Crystal here and we will make the trade."

"She had better be safe!" the paladin demanded.

"That is entirely up to you. And you had better hurry. Or else something...unfortunate might happen to her."

I growled in response. "Coward! Why don't you just come down here with Rosa so we can get this over with?!"

"Now where would be the fun in that? And a little tip so you don't get lost. Why don't you...follow the Heartless..."

On cue, a bunch of Cannon Guns, Air Soldiers, and Tornado Steps spawned in front of us. I sighed in exasperation. "He's just refusing to make this easy for us."

And with that we fought our way through the Heartless. We followed the monsters like Golbez instructed, later on encountering Gargoyle Knights, Gargoyle Warriors, Emerald Blues, Yellow Operas, and Wyverns. As we went through the halls, I began to notice something about the place. It appeared to be made of yellow-brown stone, but every now and then I spotted holes in the walls that reveal a gray-blue metallic walls, with various lights and visible circuits.(2) This definitely looked out of place in this world.

Eventually, we stopped running into Heartless, only to come across a door that was blocked by three girls. At first glance they appeared to be human, but... my sixth sense was telling me otherwise.

To the right was a short girl who looked no older than ten with violet eyes and purple bangs sticking out of her hood, wearing a lavender hooded dress with purple polka-dots, a white and purple striped, skin tight suit underneath, purple shoes, a yellow belt, and yellow wing-like ornaments on her hood.

In the middle was a much more portly lady, with blue eyes and indigo bangs sticking out of her hood, wearing a blue hooded dress, skin tight suit with mismatched limbs, yellow and blue stripes on her right arm, plain yellow on her left arm, yellow with a pink boot on her right leg, and pink with a yellow boot on her left leg, and two sets of ribbons knots on her hood, a yellow smaller one above and a pink bigger one below.

And to the left was a taller young woman with green eyes and long flowing brunette hair, whose attire definitely stood out from the other two by wearing a lot less. An almost all pink outfit consisting of a small top that fully exposed her midriff and had her right sleeve slightly higher than her left, a belt with a white loincloth, a singular pant leg covering her left thigh with a high-heeled shoe on her left foot while her right leg had a knee length high-heeled boot, and a yellow petal-like ribbons on the sides of her hair.

"Welcome to the Tower of Zot!" the tall one said in a sultry voice.

"Hmph! We're surprised you made it this far!" the short one in a bratty voice.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" the chubby one said in a mature voice.

"And you are?" Cecil inquired.

The trio struck a pose as they called in unison. "We are the Magus Sisters!"

"I am the eldest," said the chubby one and she bowed. "My name is Cindy!"

"I'm in the middle," said the tall one as she winked. "You may called Sandy."

"And I'm the youngest," said the short one as she crossed her arms. "Mindy!"

Once again they called in unison. "We serve the Empress of Winds herself, Barbariccia, keeper of this tower." With a title like that, one that falls in line with Blighted Despot and Drowned King, there was no doubt this Barbariccia was indeed the third Archfiend.

"I'm afraid your climb is at an end," said Cindy.

"We'll be taking that Crystal from you," said Mindy.

"And make sure you never see your dear Rosa again!" said Sandy.

The three sisters then summoned their weapons, Mindy brandishing a pair of daggers, Sandy a spear, and Cindy a scythe. "Have at it, sisters!" the eldest called out.

"Burn to ashes!" little Mindy opened by conjuring several fireballs at us.

I stepped up and held Moon Cutter in front, absorbing the spell.

"Blizzara!" Tellah shouted as he conjured several shards of ice and threw them at Cindy.

"Not so fast! Reflect!" called the tall Sandy, and a magic barrier shrouded the fat one, blocking the magic ice and rebounded back toward us.

I ended up having to unleash the fire in my sword via a Sonic Wave in order to negate the blizzard spell. After a cloud of mist, I barely had time to react when Cindy charged at me while spinning with her scythe. I had successfully defended but was knocked onto the ground on my back. As my gaze was staring upwards, I caught Sandy leaping up and diving at me with her spear. I barely managed to avoid it and got up before blocking a swing.

I was face to face with the middle sister who stared with a...seductive smirk. "My! Aren't you a cute little boy?" She then winked. "Wanna play with me?"

Yeah, no way I was falling for that. "You're not my type." I then shoved her back.

"Oh! I'm hurt!" Sandy said with false drama. "Is that any way to treat a lady?"

"You can drop your false charm and crocodile tears." I said. "It's not gonna work on me."

She then pouted, "Fine then! You wanna play rough! Try this! Haste!" She then glowed yellow as a magic glyph shaped like a clock appeared underneath her, which accelerated is hands.

Sandy then came at me in the blink of an eye, and I was barely able to block a fast flurry of trusts. It was really, really hard for me to keep up, but on the plus side each blow was building more and more power in Moon Cutter. Unfortunately, she managed to strike me on the shoulder, causing me to flinch. Lucky for me, Yang came in and kicked her away before she could capitalize on my dropped guard. I took the opportunity to glance at the rest of the battle, seeing Tellah in a black magic duel with Mindy, and Cecil and Cid were duking it out with Cindy.

Sandy grunted. "How rude! But then I can't expect any less from meat heads like you!"

Yang cracked his knuckles. "I'm not normally fond of harming women. But the like of you I definitely have no qualms."

The tallest sister chuckled as she raised her arm. "Well, I have just the thing for a muscle man like you. Confuse!"

The monk then shouted as he grabbed his head in pain. I then approached him in concern. "Yang!"

I then heard Tellah shout. "Sasuke! Stay back!"

Right as he said that, Yang turned to me, extended his Thunder Claws and lunged at me. I was forced to block with my already charged sword. "Yang! What are you doing?"

The sage answered. "She's put him under a spell that makes him unable to distinguish friend from foe! Don't worry, I'll-"

"Don't ignore me old man!" Mindy shouted.

I soon found myself having to block the monk's attacks continuously, all the while my sword absorbed more and more power still. However, the more power it absorbed, the heavier it started to feel. It was here that I would learn the hard way a limitation to Moon Cutter's power: If it absorbs more power than the user can handle, they can lose control of that power, and that can lead to some messy results. What happened next was probably the best case scenario for that: I found myself unable to hold it in and it just exploded out in the form of a shock wave that blew everyone in the vicinity away. Everyone, including the Magus Sisters, were either knocked onto the ground or sent crashing into a wall.

I managed to sit up from the ground, feeling dizzy from the eruption. I then heard Cid exclaim, "What the heck was that?!"

I groaned, "Ugh... Note to self: Be wary of how much power you absorb. You could lose control of it."

As the sisters stood up, Sandy glared at me. "Oh you're gonna pay for that one. Time for you to become my slave. Confu-"

She was cut off by Yang blasting her with one of his Qigong Waves. "Funny thing about that spell," he said, "all it takes is a good strike in the skull to break it."

"You big oaf!"

I managed to recover enough to stand up, gather energy into my sword, and dash at the woman. "Crescent Moon Dance!" She saw me just in time to block the first strike and from there she struggled to block every swing. It looked like her Haste spell had worn off. Soon I was able to knock that spear right out of her hands before I was ready to finish. "Full Moon Strike!" And with that, I stabbed Sandy right in the torso, followed by the energy blasting her into a wall where she then fell limp and un-moving.

"SANDY!" Mindy shouted.

Before I could look at the youngest sister, the oldest came spinning at me with her scythe, I blocked but was sent flying. Yang caught me as Cindy approached Sandy's body. Mindy leapt in front and shot elemental magic on the ground between us and them.

The chubby sister then gathered a dark ghostly energy in her hand. "Hell's Resurrection!" The middle sister's body was then coated in the same ghostly energy, started floating in the air, before it turned upright and stood on the floor. And to our shock, the body came back to life, with her fatal wound completely erased, not even a scar.

"Now that's just cheat'n!" Cid exclaimed.

After that it was another round, now with our match-ups constantly changing. Cindy was still coming at us with her brute strength, Sandy with her Haste and Confuse tricks and the occasional Reflect, and Mindy casting her fire, ice, and lightning magic. At some point, Cecil manage to dispatch little Mindy, only for Cindy to pull the same resurrection trick on her. Okay now it was becoming a war of attrition.

The five of us gathered together, before Cecil spoke. "At this rate, they're gonna wear us out."

"Now what?" asked Tellah. "We don't have time for this."

"Hmm," hummed Cid, sounding like he's analyzing the situation. "The fat one seems to be the one with that resurrection spell. We need to take her out first."

"She's resilient though," Yang interjected. "Striking a deadly blow will require cunning."

"Any ideas?" I asked.

The mechanic seemed to think for a moment before perking up. "I got an idea. Cecil, Sasuke, do you think you can keep the other two busy? I'm gonna need Tellah and Yang's help in taking her out."

Before any more could be discussed, Cindy spoke up. "I think we've played with them long enough, sisters! It's time we finished them!"

"I couldn't agree more!" replied Sandy.

"Secret weapon time!" exclaimed Mindy.

Then all three sisters held out their hands and each generated three large energy spheres, which then floated in the air and moved into a triangle formation. "Delta Attack!" The orbs then surrounded us, made a barrier around us, and a sigil with a triangle shape appeared beneath our feet. Not good!(3)

"Shell!" Tellah shouted as we were all coated in protective magic.

The sigil below us then glowed brightly before we were all enveloped in a bright red light, a light that constantly burned our skin but also felt like it was scorching our souls too. I had a feeling this would be a lot worse were it not for Tellah's protective spell. After a moment, the attack ceased, and we were all on our knees from pain before Tellah and Cecil both quickly used Cure spells on us all.

"What!" shouted Cindy in shock.

"It can't be!" added Sandy.

"How could our Delta Attack have failed!" exclaimed Mindy.

Deciding to go along with what Cid said before the Delta Attack, I dashed at Mindy, figuring my Moon Cutter would serve as the perfect counter to her magic. I swung at her, which she defended with her daggers, before jumping away and casting a Blizzara spell. I absorbed the spell, before throwing it back at her via Sonic Wave.

The smallest sister seemed to get ticked off. "You think you're hot stuff just because you absorb my spells! You big stupid stinking cowardly neanderthal!"

I groaned. "I wouldn't normally be fond of harming a small child like you, but frankly you and your sisters are proving far too much of a nuisance for me to care."

"CHILD!" She then started stamping her feet in a tantrum. "I'll have you know we're all over two hundred years old!"(4)

I couldn't help but blanch for a moment at that. "THAT OLD!"

We went back and forth several times. Soon I was able to glance at the rest of the fight, and saw Cecil engaged with Sandy, Cid duking it out with Cindy, Yang seemed to be biding his time with his hands put together, and Tellah with gathering magic into two spheres, one of fire and the other of ice. Soon, the sage threw the orb to the center of the battlefield where they collided with each other, exploding into a very thick mist that covered the entire area, so thick that it obscured my vision. I didn't know what he was planning, but I hoped he knew what he was doing, because this was about to make fighting Mindy more difficult.

However, before I could make a move, I heard Yang shout, "Prowling Tiger!" followed by Cindy's shouting and grunting.

"No you don't!" Mindy shouted before an orange light shined in the fog, followed by hot wind blowing.

The wind cleared the mist...just in time to see Cid swing his ax at Cindy, who was struggling in Yang's grip from behind before being beheaded.

"CINDY!" the other two sisters cried out.

Mindy then growled. "YOUR GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" She then started rapidly firing her fire, ice, and lighting spells at the mechanic. I used Flash Cover to warp in front of him, and absorbed the spells with Moon Cutter.

"Bio!" Tellah shouted as he threw a cloud of black and green gas at her, which caused her to cough up a storm as her spells gradually slowed down.

The second the spells stopped, I unleashed all her spells back at her with a Sonic Wave, which engulfed her in a pillar of her own magic upon contact. When the magic dissipated, Mindy's body fell to the floor, burnt to a crisp.

I then heard the sound of a stab through flesh and a choked grunt. I looked over to see Cecil had impaled Sandy in the torso, just like I had before. "Holy Flame!" then incinerated her body into dust. He then looked at the bodies of the other two sisters before cremating them too, probably to make absolutely sure they couldn't revive.

I slumped to the ground exhausted. "Man that was rough."

"And it is bound to get rougher," said Yang.

"Lucky for y'all," Cid said as he pulled out a vial of liquid, "I packed some spare elixirs to heal and re-energized us." We all then took a sip from that vial.

"I have to admit, Cid, that was a clever plan," said Tellah. "Generating mist to obscure their vision, a problem the aura sensing Yang has no issue with, and have him attack the fat one then use his monster strength to hold her down for you to behead her right then and there."

Cid laughed as he rubbed his finger on his nose smugly. "Worked like a charm! And I was right that she was the only one able to resurrect the others! Once she was down, the others were a piece of cake!"

Then something unexpected happened that startled us. From where the bodies of the Magus Sister used to be, ghostly energy manifested, which soon shaped into three faces that resemble one of those theater masks, specifically the one for tragedy. Soon a small tornado appeared above and sucked the three spirits in. A pair of eyes spectral eye manifested, seemingly glaring at us. Then the souls, the twister, and eyes all vanished.

If that wasn't foreboding, I don't know what was.

Cecil was the first to snap out of his stupor. "Come on... Rosa is waiting for us."


A/N: And done. Boy, executing the fight against the Magus Sisters was no easy task. Next time, we'll see how the exchange with Golbez plays out.

Footnotes:

(1) It's never outright stated in the games, but given that the Tower of Zot was nowhere on the world map, and the fact that the airship ascends higher than normal when entering it, I think it's a safe assumption that it's a flying fortress.

(2) Interesting discrepancy: While the exterior of the Tower of Zot was never shown, the interior design is different between the 2D and 3D versions. In the 2D versions, it looks far more technologically advanced for the medieval-like setting of FF4, matching two later dungeons. In the 3D versions however, it looks more like a stone temple, giving it a more unique design. For this story, I decided to combine the two.

(3) In all version of FF4, which was the Magus Sister's first appearance, their Delta Attack was little more than a move pattern of Sandy casting Reflect on Cindy, and Mindy casting a spell at Cindy which is then reflect onto the party. For this story, I decided to take more inspiration from later iterations of the Delta Attack.

(4) I don't know their actual age, I just thought this would be funny. Plus I never pegged them as humans anyway.