Kain faded in and out of awareness. The first time he woke up, he saw Rosa standing against the backdrop of a burning tree, its flaming branches reaching up into the darkening sky. Rosa had her bow drawn, aiming somewhere beyond the raging flames. She shouted, but her words were lost to the roaring fire, then she released her arrow, the burning point streaking away from her, dazzling him in its wake.
Kain tried to sit up, pushing himself up off the ground, but a dizzying pain rushed through him, tearing away his tenuous hold on consciousness.
He woke next to bright light against his eyelids, uncomfortable and demanding. When he tried opening them, he could only see Rosa's faint outline, the whole of her drowning in light. "Close your eyes," she whispered, invoking the long-ago memory of when she first said to him and how perfect that moment had been.
Kain promptly obeyed and felt a wave of relief wash over him as Rosa cast her Cure spell. The ache in his legs deepened as the bones shifted back together, then lessened as his body began knitting itself back together.
Rosa leaned down, her lips brushing against his forehead. "Sleep," she murmured, her mouth moving with the shape of the word, searing the command against his skin. Kain fell easily into her suggestion. He absently wondered how she knew a black magic spell, not realizing it had been her words alone that exercised such power over him.
Much later, he woke again, eyes opening to the darkness of night. Overhead, the stars punctured the black fabric of the sky with their brilliant points of light. Kain's vision was blurry, the light from the stars bleeding together, streaming white tails across the sky. The effect made him dizzy, like the world shifted around him.
No, Kain realized, as the world lurched forward once more, he was moving. He was being dragged along the ground on a blanket – no, a cloak, no - Kain peered closer and saw red triangles standing out in stark relief on the white fabric – it was Rosa's white mage robes, he realized. The fabric was stretched tight, tied between two thick tree branches, in a makeshift stretcher.
As he became aware of the movement, he also became aware of his body, and his legs throbbed in wild pain. Kain tried to shift, to sit up, but exhaustion seized his limbs, making them heavy and ungainly; Kain groaned with the effort.
"Be still and quiet." Kain heard Rosa's voice nearby, low in a hushed command. "We're almost to safety, but I need your silence and cooperation." He followed the sound of her voice over his shoulder and saw her ahead of him, crouching low, holding both branches like poles, using it to drag Kain, still armored, along the ground.
Kain opened his mouth to protest but was stopped when a low moan sounded close by. Rosa froze, no longer pulling Kain along, but watching their surroundings for any hint of movement. After a paralyzing few seconds of silence, they heard a second moan, this time further away.
Rosa gave a relieved exhale, then picked up the poles and began dragging Kain along again. Kain could do nothing but watch the shadows behind them and hope the moving ones would stay uninterested.
They came to a bridge, which swung uncertainly back and forth as Rosa dragged Kain across. The creaking planks sounded eerie in the nighttime silence. On the other side of the bridge was an isolated island, the ground inscribed with a safety rune. As they crossed into the humming magic of the ward, Rosa cried out in exhausted relief.
But there was no time for rest yet, as Rosa pulled Kain to the middle of the ward, then lowered the poles to the ground and untied them from the robes. She stood behind him, linking an arm under both of his shoulders, and pulled him up to sit. Without thinking, Kain shifted his legs, then yelped in surprise at the red wave of pain that washed over him.
"You're okay," Rosa murmured, in that same soothing tone she always used for Cecil. "Your body is healing, but it remembers the trauma." She still held on to him, holding him up by the shoulders, her arms circling around his armored chest to hold him in place. "Can you sit on your own? Or do you need to lie down?"
"I can sit," Kain said tightly through clenched teeth. Rosa released him, then fell in a heap beside him. She rolled to her back, staring up at the sky, just breathing in and out slowly. She closed her eyes, and a few tears trickled through her closed lashes.
Kain didn't want to say anything, saw the exhaustion plain on her face, wanting to grant her a few minutes of peace. But as the pain rolled through him, making his lower legs throb with an intensity that nearly made him swoon again, Kain let out an involuntary groan and clutched at his legs.
"You broke both of your legs in the fall," Rosa said matter-of-factly as she got back up, then crouched beside him, her weariness compartmentalized once she heard him in pain. She lifted his helmet from his head and set it aside. "I've mended the bones, but your body will need time to recover – did something happen to you before the Jump? I tried to wake you but could not; you were too deeply hurt."
"Yes," Kain answered through clenched teeth, rubbing his hand across his face; dried brown flakes came away in his palm.
Rosa leaned in closer, looking puzzled. She touched Kain tentatively, as if she feared injuring him further, one hand on his chin, tipping his face up, the other on his shoulder, holding him in place. "What happened?" she asked softly, her eyes searching his face for some sign of wound or injury.
"Cecil… he…" Kain tried to answer, finding himself suddenly swallowed up by an unexpected panic, unable to inhale to form words. But Rosa steadied him, holding him balanced with just her fingertips. She took a deliberate breath in through her nose, then released it slowly out of her mouth; Kain found himself imitating her unconsciously just by watching. Kain followed the pattern of her slow inhales and exhales, and soon the tight knot of anxiety in him loosened. "I got caught in his Darkness spell," Kain was finally able to say; it did not occur to him how he had shifted the blame from Cecil to himself.
"Oh." Rosa tried to hide her surprise, but Kain saw her eyes widen. She looked him over again with this new knowledge. "Let me try Cure again," she said as she withdrew from him.
She moved around him, loosening the straps from his chest piece. He recognized the expertise in her hands as she thoughtfully removed each piece of armor, carefully coordinating her movements to jostle Kain as little as possible. He wondered if there were many injured soldiers Rosa treated in such a way, or if her gentle kindness was reserved for Kain and Cecil alone.
Kain said nothing, staring ahead, as she finished unarmoring him. His pain gradually dulled as she cast her Cure spell over him, and the relief at the fading discomfort nearly made him weep with gratitude.
The magic around Rosa finally dissipated, along with its illuminating light. Now, they sat in the blue glow of the safety ward, its odd light casting strange shadows across Rosa's face.
"I'm sorry," Rosa said quietly, keeping a fearful eye on the bridge that separated their safe island from the rest of the mountain. "I could not stop to fully assess you or let you rest. I had to get you to safety, first."
Kain wondered how much time had passed since their landing on the mountain, remembering it had been early evening and now the day had turned to deep night. For how many hours did Rosa hold off the hungry undead, while pulling Kain along? The thought caused a curious stir in his heart, but then he remembered -
"Did you see the ship? Did it crash?" Kain asked, trying to clear his head.
"I could not see it directly," Rosa told him. "But I saw a smoke trail in the sky. I think the ship crashed, but I cannot say how badly." She closed her eyes, and when she spoke again her voice was full of hurt, "You should have taken Cecil instead."
Her words cut through Kain because he both did and did not agree with her. "Perhaps," he admitted quietly. "But it is done."
"Rest," Rosa said, sounding suddenly tired again, as if she remembered her exhaustion. "We both need to recover. We can better assess our position in the morning light."
Kain's eyes felt immediately heavy and he struggled to keep them open. He laid back, his legs still feeling too tired and worn to shift around. He heard Rosa moving around him, heard the soft scuff of her feet on the ground as she paced the length of the safety ward, heard the clink of glass as she laid out potions, taking inventory, and her concerned sigh at the too few supplies. Eventually, exhaustion won out and he nodded off.
The cold ground leeched any warmth from Kain, and despite Rosa's robes on the ground beneath him, he found that the discomfort needled him too much for deep sleep. He shifted uncomfortably, drifting in and out of fitful sleep.
Kain became aware of Rosa next to him almost as soon as she laid down, the warmth against his side welcome and needed. He shifted his arm, winding it around her, and she responded by moving in closer.
"Sleep," Rosa insisted, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder. "We'll need our strength tomorrow to find a way off the mountain."
"Do you think Cecil..." Kain started, then hesitated, unsure if he dared even ask.
"Do I think Cecil survived?" Rosa prompted, bravely voicing the monumental worry that hung over them both when Kain could not. "I can only hope he's unharmed and on his way to us." And there was her courageous optimism, always wishing for the best outcome for everyone.
Kain didn't know how her idealism survived both her father's death and the grueling task of attending to Cecil's wounds, but he was glad of it now, needing her hopeful light in the darkness around them. He pulled her in closer, and she did not fight it, pressing herself against his side, freely sharing warmth between them.
Kain heard the mournful wail of a ghoul. It was far enough away that Kain could not hear its shuffling footsteps, but close enough to send a chill down his spine. Kain wondered where Cecil might be tonight, if the Mysidians had sent help yet or if now the surviving ship's crew also had to contend with the approaching undead, without the benefit of a safety ward or white mage. And that was all assuming Cecil had survived the crash in the first place.
"I hope so too," Kain finally whispered back.
Rosa did not reply; she was already asleep, her breath warm and steady against his neck.
Eventually, Kain fell asleep, but his worries followed, giving him strange dreams full of intensely vivid yet vague imagery, scenes that tugged at half-forgotten memories, giving him a nostalgic taste for something for which he had no context. It was like being in the dark and trying to remember how many stairs until the bottom. Each time he tried to fully grasp what he was seeing, he'd miss the next step, and be left stumbling through the darkness, wildly reaching for the next somewhat familiar thing.
When he finally opened his eyes to light, he already knew it was a false awakening. Still, he felt safe, and Kain recognized the linens that covered him to be from his childhood bed. A warmth started to spread through him, the pleasant heat finally thawing his chilled body.
"You should be resting," a woman said, with an unusual accent Kain could not place. He looked up to see her and his dream-self was not alarmed but soothed by her presence. She seemed familiar somehow, although Kain could not recall her face or name. She was uncommonly beautiful, with dark hair and eyes that looked black and glittering in the low light of the lamp she carried.
The woman set the lamp down on a bedside table, then sat on the bed's edge. The dancing shadows from the flickering light made her expression impossible to read, and Kain was unsure if she smiled or frowned at him.
"Kain," she said gently, tucking the blankets in around him. "This is a place to confront uncomfortable truths." She stopped fussing with the blankets to look him directly in the eye. "Are you ready for that?"
"What truths?" Kain asked. He started to sit up, but the woman placed a firm hand on his shoulder, holding him in place. "Why are there so many secrets around me? Do you know?"
The woman considered him for a long moment, but still, Kain could not make out the details of her face, too distorted by the dream's eerie atmosphere. Finally, she spoke, and her voice was small and resigned, "The dead have many secrets. They whisper their regrets into the cold ground, until the soil is soaked with guilt and anguish. The earth nourishes itself on their pain, giving it new life and purpose."
She reached out and cupped Kain's cheek in her hand. Kain leaned into the affectionate gesture, surprised how much he liked it. "You don't need to know the shame that surrounds you," she continued, stroking her thumb against the curve of his cheek. "You could grow into the man you want to be, never giving a worry about the past and its secrets, not caring about the blight at your roots."
"But if I wanted the truth?" Kain asked.
"It is right in front of you," she said, then withdrew her hand from his face. He saw then the way she awkwardly moved her body, compensating for her large pregnant belly. She moved around the bed's end, then eased herself down to her hands and knees on the floor. She reached under the bed, felt around for a moment, then pulled a small wooden chest out.
"What is it?" Kain asked, but the woman did not answer or even glance his way. He tried to move his legs but found he didn't have a sense of his body anymore, now only a spectator as the scene continued to play out.
The chest was not large, no bigger than his hand on each side. It was decorated with flowers and sprawling vines carved into its wooden surface. She opened its lid with an air of caution and pulled out a small stack of papers. Setting the chest aside, she slowly leafed through the papers. Then her expression crystalized and Kain could make out her face – she was scowling. Why did she look so familiar?
"Elena!" A man's voice broke the dreamy softness. The woman looked up, alarmed, then hastily stuffed the papers back into the chest. She closed the chest, then pushed it back under the bed.
"Elena?" The room's door opened, and in spilled new light. Kain blinked through the brightness, and it was a blurry few seconds before his vision settled and he saw his father stride across the room. "Why are you on the floor?" Richard asked, sounding amused. He knelt beside the woman.
That's my mother, Kain realized.
"Trying to get my shoes on," Elena said with a laugh, her speech still thickly accented. "But now that I'm down here, I fear may be stuck."
"Let me help you," Richard said as he circled an arm around Elena, helping her up off the floor. Once she was steady on her feet, he released her. "Joanna is here to check on you," he paused, then leaned in to look closer at her. "Are you all right? You look a bit flushed."
"Oh," Elena gave another quick laugh. "Only my efforts to get up." She sat on the bed's edge, easing herself down cautiously. "Give me a moment to catch my breath before you send Joanna in."
"Of course. Rest a bit, I'll keep her busy," Richard leaned down and kissed the top of Elena's head, then left, with a reluctant look back before he closed the door.
Elena sat in silence, her eyes closed, only breathing deeply. Then, she placed her left hand on the top of her belly, looking thoughtfully at it. "Why Joanna?" she asked of no one. "Why her and not me?" She lifted her hand back up, then fiddled with her wedding band, twisting it off finger. She held the ring in her palm, considering it. She frowned deeply. "Liar," she said, sighing out a heavy exhale, then put the ring back on.
"El? Are you feeling all right, dear?" Despite being muffled on the other side of the door, Kain recognized Joanna's voice.
Elena glanced at the door and scowled again; the dark and angry look clouded her beauty. Then, she shook her head, dispelling the expression. She shifted and resettled herself on the bed, then quickly smoothed out her skirts. "Come on in, Jo," she said, her voice sweet and light.
Joanna opened the door, and once again, light came in. This time, it drowned out the cozy darkness of the room, forcing Kain to look away, despite his desperate desire to see more, to know more, to finally learn the complicated truth that surrounded him.
Once more, Kain opened his eyes.
Kain woke to the sun in his eyes. On Mount Ordeals, even the sunshine seemed bleak, but it was enough to stir Kain to waking. Kain sat up and saw Rosa across the safety ward. She looked worn, despite the sleep, with dark smudges under her eyes, a new tension in her brow. Most mages wore civilian clothing under their robes, but Kain realized Rosa was wearing an archer's uniform; close fitting, lightweight green garments under a slim leather cuirass, all designed for ease of movement and speed, and blending into the environment.
Rosa was sitting, with her supplies laid out before her on the ground: three Cure Potions, a canteen, three servings of hard tack. It was a field survival kit, Kain realized. Alongside the supplies was Rosa's bow and quiver full of both fire and regular arrows.
"How are you doing?" Kain asked. His legs were stiff as stood, but with only a slight wobble, he got to his feet.
"I'll manage," Rosa replied, looking over to watch Kain carefully as he moved. "Your gait looks good," she remarked, some of the worry easing from her brow. "How's your stability? Do you think you can Jump?" She stood, focusing on Kain as he continued to move.
Kain braced his legs, sinking a bit into the stance, flexing his knees as he did pre-Jump. A strange numbness spread through his feet, and he found himself stumbling. Rosa caught him by the arm and pulled it around her shoulders, offering extra support. Kain needed it, trusting most of his weight to her. Carefully, she eased him down. Safely on the ground, he flexed his feet back and forth, testing out the strange sensation of not being able to feel them.
Rosa knelt beside him. "Any pain?" she asked, pressing a curious palm against his shin.
"No," Kain replied. "It just feels numb, out of nowhere."
"Not an unusual symptom," Rosa said. "You had multiple breaks. Here-" she traced a line across his left shin, just below his knee. "Here." Another line, a few inches down. "And here." The final line was just above his ankle. "Only one break on the right leg because you landed with most of your weight on the left. Some dragoons report numbness in their legs or feet after similar fractures."
"How do you know all of this?" Kain asked.
Rosa shrugged, trying to appear indifferent. "I did my research on common dragoon injuries."
Kain couldn't help himself and grinned. "Oh?"
"Don't read into it." Rosa frowned at him. "I did the same for dark knights. If we're to work together, we need to know how best to function as a unit. I need to be prepared."
Kain cast a glance aside at her collection of supplies, then looked back to Rosa and considered her archer's uniform. "You seem especially prepared for this mission. Did you think we'd crash?"
"Didn't you?" Rosa countered, sounding defensive. "Isn't that why you didn't want me along?"
There was a thick silence between them, before Rosa finally sighed. "It's all I could think about. Losing my father was the worst day of my life. But it wouldn't compare to my heartbreak if I lost both of you." She looked down at herself, as if noticing the uniform for the first time. "So, I wore this under my robes and carried some extra supplies." Rosa cracked a smile, pleased with herself. "You'd be surprised what you can hide under them." But when Kain said nothing, the smile faded. "Kain, say something," she implored him, sounding desperate.
"Thank you," Kain finally spoke, but the words were tight in his throat. He was surprised by the sudden wave of emotion: a mix of gratitude, relief, and love. Love for her and her desire to be here with him, to take care of him, to always think ahead about what he might need. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't want you along. I do, I was just scared something might happen."
"And something did happen," Rosa said pointedly. "But we're facing it. Together. That is what matters." She looked back to his legs with a nod. "Try moving them again. The numbness should have faded."
Kain flexed his legs and was surprised to find Rosa was correct; he had feeling all the way down to his toes. "Does this mean I can't Jump?" Kain asked, trying not to feel panicked.
"It should pass," Rosa said quickly. She held out a hand to help him up; he took it gratefully and she easily pulled him to his feet. She watched him steady himself, then as he walked around, testing each step out with a slow caution. "You need more time and healing before you can Jump again."
"What are our options, then?" Kain asked, turning in a circle to assess their surroundings. By day, Mount Ordeals was easier to see. He saw the bridge leading to the mountain and a long, winding path to the mountain's peak, where no living dared go. "We're on the summit, aren't we?"
"Both a blessing and a curse," Rosa said, as she crouched on the ground. She picked up a stick and began drawing a crude map in the dirt. "We wouldn't have survived the night without it," she murmured as she drew.
"Or without you," Kain added quietly. If Rosa heard him, she did not acknowledge it, only continued to draw. Kain knelt beside her, watching as the map took shape.
"We're high up off the ground. You can't Jump and our supplies are low," Rosa announced as she paused her mapmaking, glancing out toward the horizon. "If Mysidia is on their way, it'll be a day or more until they arrive by chocobo. They'll stop to assist the ship's crew first, taking another day, before mounting a rescue for us. And that's not accounting for where the ship crashed." She frowned at the ground. "I think that's right. It's been months since I've been here."
Kain looked down and saw the mountain sketched out in descending levels. At a few points, Rosa had drawn large X's. At the bottom, the entrance was marked by sharp upside-down Vs. "What are those?" he asked, pointing at each.
Rosa tapped the stick on one of the X's. "Chests. Mysidia leaves caches of supplies for mages or pilgrims who attempt the journey up the mountain. Potions and Ethers, mostly." Then, pointing to the Vs. "This is the fire barrier blocking the entrance to Mount Ordeals. It's to keep unprepared pilgrims from wandering in without a black mage, but also to keep the dead on the mountain."
She frowned deeper in concentration, then looked aside at Kain. "I think we have a few options: we can go straight down the mountain, stopping for the supply caches as we go, and hope we can get to the bottom before it gets dark. Or, we can get the nearby chests, back track to the safety ward and rest here while we wait out the night. By tomorrow morning, you may have your leg strength back and we can just Jump down, or, if not, we can start the descent fully rested and in daylight when the undead are least active."
"And the fire barrier?" Kain asked.
Rosa shook her head. "I haven't figured that one out yet. Hopefully, by the time we get to the base, Mysidia's rescue will have arrived and can dispel the barrier." She paused, chewing on her lip in thought. "What do you think?"
Kain looked down, both at the map and the few supplies Rosa had laid out. "If we're still waiting up to two days or longer for the fire barrier to come down, we shouldn't be in a rush to get down the mountain." He pointed at two X's clustered nearby, on the elevation below the top. "Let's try for these two chests, then come back to the safety ward."
"I agree," Rosa said with a nod. She looked up at him, her blue eyes looking serious and intense. "Can we do this?" she asked, in earnest need of an answer.
Kain reached for her hand, taking it in his with a squeeze, as they used to do as children. "I think so," he murmured, meaning to let go of her then, but instead, he ran his thumb over her knuckles. He was both surprised and not surprised when a jolt went through him.
Rosa looked up at him, suddenly wide-eyed, wordlessly answering the question if she'd felt it too.
A terrible howl pierced the tense silence; both Rosa and Kain looked up to see a zombie, on the other side of the bridge, stumbling up the path toward the peak.
"You should armor up," Rosa said stiffly as she pulled her hand free from his, then cleared her throat.
Kain glanced between Rosa and the zombie, and wondered which danger was greater.