Eventually, the people apparently realize that we aren't here to attack Albrook, and go back to mostly minding their own business. The soldiers go to the ship we're leaving for Crescent Island on, preparing it for leaving tomorrow. The townspeople go to look at the wares in the shops or get a drink in the bar. The children running around continually stop their game of tag to stare at the soldiers devoid of any Magitek armor, devoid of unsheathed swords or anything else they could use to kill anyone, probably wondering what the soldiers are doing, before continuing for a few seconds and stopping to gape again. The advertisers outside the merchants' shops attempt, to no avail, to sell weapons and armor to the passing soldiers.

"I suppose the Returners'll be getting here soon," I mutter, walking toward the ship, which is solitary on the dock. "We should get the boat ready."

"Celes… you aren't… worried, are you?" Leo meets my pace, walking alongside me to the Imperial ship.

"What do I have to be worried about? The Returners are all weak. I could easily beat them in a fight."

"That's not what I meant…"

One of the soldiers immediately approaches Leo. "General Leo, what…" I stop listening. If they don't trust me with affairs with their enemy, so be it. I haven't fully cleared the fog in my mind, anyhow.

Why did they make me a general? Why not just tell the Returners this was a mistake? I had already practically joined them, after all, and then Kefka showed up and ruined that and made the Returners think I betrayed them while the Empire still knew I'd betrayed it… Everyone always believes Kefka and his amazing plots to ruin the life of any possible person.

Though I could live on my own fairly easily.

The water I've begun to stare down at shifts with the quiet winds coming from the sea, lightly tousling my hair. The water is clear enough I can see the silhouettes of tiny fish conglomerating to form a school in the distance, which looks to be half the size of the ship. The water nicely reflects the clouds in the sky, which are wispy streaks of white. It also reflects me, a blurry figure of light peach and blonde and black and blue and white.

I hear Leo speak, and realize I also heard the familiar footsteps yet again, this time much closer. "There you are."

The Returners were there… but the group who was coming… how inconvenient for me.

I step closer to the ship, noticing a man, presumably an assassin for his all-black clothing and many daggers, who is followed by a black and brown dog, walking toward it.

Locke and Terra are standing in front of Leo, attentively listening to him speak.

Eventually, he gets done with his small talk. "Another general and a man we hired in town will be coming as well."

Terra and Locke turn, and notice me, as well as the man clad in black.

I stand expressionless, staring at a point in the distance.

"Let me introduce… General Chere… and Shadow."

So that's what the assassin's name is, then.

Terra is staring at me expectantly, so I nod in greeting, because I'd rather leave the speaking to Leo. To avoid any… distractions.

Locke appears very shocked.

"Is something wrong?" Leo asks, noticing Locke's startled expression.

"No- it's nothing…"

Leo pauses for a moment, assumedly considering Locke's actions and words, before finally telling the two, "We'll be departing tomorrow. For the meantime, get some rest at the inn. I've arranged for you to stay there tonight." Leo then turns back to the Imperial he was talking to before, and continues speaking with him.

Terra contemplates me, eventually stepping forward, beside me. "Celes…" is all she says, although she can't think of the right words.

I say nothing.

Locke then walks up to me.

Those footsteps… but why now?

Before he says anything, I look away, and promptly rush off of the ship, into the town.

The children playing tag stop in their tracks for a moment, staring at me with wide eyes, before deciding I'm not going to freeze them all to death, and continue their game. The few non-Imperial adults do the same thing, stopping midstep to watch me for a moment with wary eyes before realizing I'm not a threat and continuing to meander around or watch their kids or enter a shop.

I walk away quickly, out of the cramped area surrounded by the ocean and stairs, through the path to the left of the stairs, to the edge of town. Two Magitek-armored soldiers are standing guard at the edge of the town, just as it's always been for as long as most people can remember. Upon noticing me, the two nod in greeting, and continue their endless impassive stare into the grassy landscape beyond.

I prefer the seabreeze to the grassland. It's at least a bit cooler and takes the edge off the heat I feel even in the coldest of winter nights.

Although the shade of a tree doesn't hurt either, and the seabreeze reaches to the sparse trees nearby.

I look for the farthest one on the horizon, still within walking distance, and start for it. After about half an hour, I reach it, and just stand there for a while leaning on it.

It's the first thing that could be counted as rest that I've had while not asleep, not in delirious consciousness, ever since… well… maybe since I was 13.

Later, the sky turns purple and yellow and orange and red, signaling sunset, so I start back for Albrook. The sky is black and dotted with unenlightening white starlight by the time I get there.

In the distance, Locke and Terra are entering the inn, but they don't seem to notice me. If it's because of the darkness enveloping the world, or because they aren't looking my way, or both, I don't know.

I go to the ship. Leo is standing on the deck, right at the entrance. "You forgot to ask where we were sleeping."

"I could sleep on the ground or something if I didn't know. It wasn't exactly my highest priority."

"Even so," he says, sighing, and walking to the back of the boat. He turns back, and gestures at me to follow. I do. We enter a stairwell leading to the interior of the ship.

Behind a door, there is a room with two hammocks and another door. Behind that door, there are six hammocks.

"So… pick which one you want."

"Because you have more conversations to have with my former troops – who are now not entirely former anymore – and exclude me from said conversations?" I retort.

He sighs more deeply than the first time, but seems not to think of anything to say, and instead turns around and leaves.

This is exactly why living by myself as a hermit in the mountains is something to consider. Nobody can betray you if there isn't anybody to betray you…

I get in one of the hammocks, and try to sleep. Leo, and three of the four soldiers, come in after a while, and promptly fall asleep, me feigning sleep because I don't feel like being questioned by Leo about why I can't sleep. He never believes it when I say I have insomnia, even though I've literally been trained to have insomnia.

Usually it fades. Not tonight, though.

Giving up on all notions of tiredness, I instead leave the ship, rewarding the soldier on guard with only a passing glance. I go to the bridge, with an arch supporting the platform most buildings here are on resting over the water. Again with the forgetting of the passing of time, I stare into the void-like depths of the water lit only by the glimmer of light the crescent moon gives.

I don't notice his footsteps until they stop right behind me.

"Celes…"

I look up from the blackness, shifting my gaze to instead the ground most diagonal from him.

"Please… at least talk to me?"

It's phrased more like a question than a statement. He steps closer, beside me, facing toward the back of my head.

"I know… I'm sorry… I doubted you, but… we can still be friends… right..?"

I can't take it anymore.

The silence.

How much it hurts, how much everything hurts, wanting to burst.

But I can't speak…

I turn away entirely, and walk away, only momentarily stopping right before I reach the stairway when he calls my name again.

For that brief moment I close my eyes, let the thoughts flood into the darkness darker than night before opening them to the dimness of the moonlight. And running to the ship.

Locke doesn't follow me.

Instead of going back into the room full of hammocks, I go to the opposite side of the ship, and stare into the water again.

Sunlight stained red, orange, yellow, and purple hitting the reflection of the pristine water is the only notification I've stayed up all night.

I turn to reboard the ship before anyone comes and criticizes me.

The patch of water I'd been staring at freezes on my departure.

I stand, cross-armed, against the wall of the ship, waiting until eventually Leo, the two Returners, and the soldier who'll be steering come onto the deck.

When they do, I focus my attention on the ground. Or a point on the horizon. Or looking around the ship.

"So…" A pointed glance at me from Leo. "Shall we be off?"

The Returners, the ones who actually get to make that decision, both nod.

After a few minutes, the ship sets off. The other Imperial soldiers are up by then, too.

I decide not to stare into the water for the entire trip, and instead go back downstairs into the room more full of hammocks. And close the door. Which is good, because moments later, I hear Leo bringing the two Returners into the other room and telling them it's their room. Thankfully he also tells them not to go into this room.

"Why is…" Terra's voice passes into the room I'm in, before she hesitates. "Why is… um… why is Celes hiding?"

Deathly silence fills both rooms.

Finally, Leo responds, "I cannot speak for her." The group is quiet for a few more moments. "You can get settled in now. The trip will be two days."

Footsteps gradually fade, indicating they have left the room and I am more alone than I already was. I sit down on one of the hammocks, the one closest to me which isn't necessarily the one I was supposed to be sleeping in. I channel the magic coursing through my veins into a tangible ball of snow, freezing it colder and colder until the entire room seems to be frozen, and the snow is more a thick, heavy ice than snow. A bit of air seems to be condensing on it. The chill probably creeps up, through the boat, where everyone can feel it.

If the people up there didn't know me, they'd probably trick themselves into thinking it was simply a strong sea breeze. Or the Magitek armor running a diagnostic to make sure all three basic beams worked, and they'd expect to feel heat and a slight electric shock afterwards. Which the armor does actually do, although it has to be triggered manually and the soldiers usually only do it before embarking on a mission.

The frozen ball shatters from my distraction, showering shards of ice all over the room. They stab through the hammocks, and into the wall and floor, glistening in the sunlight before melting and evaporating. As magical ice always does with the loss of the caster's concentration.

Nobody here really needs me anyways. Why not stab holes in the walls, shallow enough not to pierce through to the seawater? Why not break everything? They brought me here… they may as well have me do something…

There is a knock on the door, tender and hesitant.

"Come in," I mutter, loud enough she could hear me through the door but hardly so.

The mint-green haired Terra tentatively opens the door, and steps inside, and closes it softly behind her.

"Why are you here?" I ask her.

"You… you seemed lonely."

"I was behind a door and you couldn't see me."

She pauses at my words. "I just… felt it, somehow. Like you wanted to talk to someone… but you couldn't…" Terra sits down on a different hammock, next to the one I'm on.

"The… the trip through the Magitek Facility for you… what did you find out? About yourself? You do seem to have come awake, after all."

"Well… I…"

"You can tell me… I won't do anything to you… not like Kefka did…"

"I… my father was Maduin, an Esper. And my mother, Madonna, she… accidentally fell through the gate into the Esper world. I was born there… then Emperor Gestahl came and took the espers and… my mother was killed…"

"And your father was unknowingly tortured for his magical abilities…"

Terra winces.

"I tell it how it is. I'm sorry, though… what happened to you isn't something that should have ever happened to anybody." I watch her face, examine it, searching for any sign of sadness or happiness or anger. But all her eyes reveal is…maybe disappointment, maybe the loss of the naivety she seemed to have before. As though she couldn't fight anymore, like all she can do is stand by and watch as people mindlessly fight each other for no reason, with no repose. And I refuse to believe she'd rather watch the bloodlust and bloodshed and not step up to try to stop the fight, and heal them all, and try to make them see reason.

Or maybe that's just because I wouldn't let that happen. I hardly know Terra at all, other than the mind-controlled kill-by-fire machine Kefka had made her for such a long time.

"Celes… why won't you talk to Locke?" Terra's question pulls me back into the present reality.

"That… that's not something you need to be concerned about." I shake my head. "You should go…"

My gaze shifts out the window, to the sky lit by the noonday sun. Noon already… but being distracted by things is enamoring while I stand alone amidst and against the rest of human life. The clouds, white and gray and puffy, glide slowly across the blue expanse of sky. Terra says something, but my mind has already drifted away, and I don;t hear or understand or acknowledge whatever she says. I'm vaguely aware of dainty footsteps walking away from me.

And different ones entering the room, no voice asking for permission to enter.

"You can't hide from life by staring into it."

My consciousness breaks away from the sky and I turn my head to meet Leo's gaze. "I can't hide in plain sight?"

"Imperials aren't supposed to hide."

"Not even for a tactical advantage? I thought Imperials weren't supposed to run away. I never heard anything about hiding."

He sighs. "You did always know how to find the loopholes in laws and the weaknesses in arguments."

I change the subject."What do you want?"

"Won't you come upstairs? And talk to people? Be a human for once?"

"I am a human."

"That isn't…" He hesitates.

"General Cristophe. Leave. Now."

He winces at my icy tone, my use of his formal title in lieu of his first name. But he nods, and steps out of the room, closing the door.

But I know what he was going to say.

He'd have said "That isn't necessarily true."

And… he would have been right.

I was genetically edited so much before I was born nobody, not even me, knows what I was before. I could have been a human, or an Esper, or some monster thing unlucky enough to be caught by the Empire when they felt like making a superpowered human. Even if said human would not even technically be human.

Nobody except Cid, who refuses to tell a soul. I asked him why once and he said it was because although his reason was unreasonable he felt that maybe if nobody else knew, if he didn't say it aloud, then it wouldn't feel true.

I close my eyes, and apparently fall asleep because I wake up to dawn. Nobody is in the room, and from what I can hear, the Returners still seem to be sleeping.

So we must be at Crescent Island.

I get up to the deck as fast as I can, and glance around before stepping to the side, near the exit of the ship but not quite next to it. The soldiers shift their positions a few times, eventually resulting in there being no path of exit for me unless I push through the line.

A few minutes later, at which point I'm picking at my nails out of boredom, two pairs of footsteps begin, grow louder, and stop near me. Different places near me,but where is irrelevant.

"When we step off into Crescent Island, we'll search for the Espers in two groups. I'll be going with Celes and the bulk of the soldiers. Terra, you'll go with Locke and Shadow."

So Leo did notice. Sort of. He chose to be alone with me even though I'm uncomfortable with all the men here I really know? But I can make do.

"You will be taking an Imperial with you, however." I suppose he at least acknowledges the fact that the Returners were his enemy about three days ago and attempted to make two semi-unsuspicious groups.

"If you find the Espers – or any clue to their whereabouts – report back immediately." He of course has to remind her of the mission itself, because of course she doesn't remember the exact reason she's here, the exact reason the Returners are even allied with the Empire, the reason why the war ended.

I look up in time to see her nod.

"If you could help us unload the supplies-"

Shadow interrupts Leo, "You have all these soldiers. Let the guests remove the source of their sickness for once."

At this, Leo turns and actually looks at Locke, whose face is an unpleasant shade of green. "Yes, of course… my apologies, Mister Cole."

Locke immediately stumbles off the ship.

Terra and Leo converse for a few more minutes before she also leaves.

Leo waits for a few moments before beginning, "Celes, if you would assist us, it would-"

"You got on perfectly fine without me earlier, General Cristophe, you'll do just as fine now." With that, I turn on my heel and step off the ship before he can respond. I note the position of the two Returners, and purposefully walk in the opposite direction.

Then I hesitate.

And start toward them. Locke's face is almost normally colored now.

"Locke…" I pause. I didn't really think this through, and have nothing to say.

He glances at me, then his expression changes to one of… anger, or something akin to it. He turns away then, and leads Terra off into the distance. Away from me.