Chapter 39

Epitaph

Tyris switched off the wall-mounted television as the live coverage of the ceremony came to an end. Before the all-day news channel lapsed into the predictable news loops detailing the aftermath of the battling in Galbadia, which she already seen twice today.

With Battleship Island now manned only by a skeletal crew, Tyris had been permitted to use the mess hall, which was empty now. Squall must have been confident she would not leave the vessel, or she would still be locked in her cell. Doubtless the faculty were watching her on the closed-circuit cameras, of which there was several around.

The mess was big, said to have originally housed Bahamut when the abandoned vessel was rediscovered by the Children of Fate. The TV was one of three screens, this one on the west side of the vast hall near some modest but comfortable chairs and couches, all hooked up to video players and gaming consoles. There were arcade and gambling machines fitted to other sections of surrounding wall. In the middle were an assortment of gaming tables: Triple Triad, poker, chess, pool, table tennis.

It was nothing new to Tyris, who had seen more advanced facilities in Esthar. She considered many of the amenities here backward, but spartan. Mess life had been one of her main solaces whilst living in the country she hated.

A door on the east wall led to the gym and spa, which Tyris had made full use of, after being allowed out of her room early by Rhodry. Largely to try and distract from the dread about the upcoming ceremony that had gnawed relentlessly at her as the day of her father's burial approached. With a long, full-body circuit on the resistance machines and free weights, she spent even longer in the sauna. Stark naked, as she lacked swimwear, and took an unhurried, cool shower afterward.

Tyris had not intended to go anywhere, though she changed her mind while watching the service. It had been first the repeated mentions of Sorceress Edea. Of her Matron being innocent of the atrocities she had committed throughout that brief, but bloody, war that raged just before Tyris' birth. Nine months after its conclusion, to be exact. It gladdened her immensely that President Martine himself had clarified Matron had died defending her orphans from Ultimecia. Tyris had been thinking of the orphanage a lot ever since that drunken evening with Thalassa. She was eager to finally return, to banish the ghosts of her past and witness the white tomb Thalassa had described.

She had not known Seifer had been Matron and Cid's son, and discovering they had been her grandparents only emboldened her unequivocal love for them. It was known that Sorceresses could not bear children. Odine had established that the Sorceress power was contained within the womb, which was why only women could inherit it. Its presence made bearing a child impossible. Seifer must have been born in vitro, like Ultimecia.

Once Tyris formally joined the Allies, there was no telling when she would ever be able to go before the end of the war. She had agreed to accompany Gerra and Thalassa to the Fire Cavern. There was no guarantee she would be shortlisted for the party to recruit Alexander. The two quests would likely happen simultaneously, provided the Holy Sentinel would even still be at the site of his former summoner's demise.

There would never be a better time to go. Squall and the others were spending the night in Galbadia City and would not be back before noon tomorrow. Tyris left the mess and went outside, lighting a cigarette as she went out into the breeze. After a couple of drags, an older, muscular man stepped out of another hatch, a hand to his earpiece and looking right at her. Tyris recognised him as one of the faculty members; they had not wasted any time in keeping on her toes.

Tyris knew where she was. It was about two thousand miles from the Gotland Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope – as Quetzalcoatl flew. Ramuh had informed Tyris the Feathered Snake could make the flight in a few hours, as mortals reckoned time. Ramuh could lend power to his bestial half, and both GFs would shield Tyris from the elements. If they did not veer too far east, toward Trabia, the weather would not become too extreme.

She casually walked to the ship's edge and took another drag, exhaling over the rail. Then she wordlessly summoned Quetzal, who appeared at the end of a lightning bolt that struck the ground between her and the faculty member.

As Tyris mounted her GF, he ran toward her and drew a broadsword. 'Where do you think you're going, Almasy?'

'Edea's House,' she answered. 'Inform your Commander that I'll return before tomorrow night!'

'Hold it!'

With one great flap of his beige wings, Quetzal knocked the man off his feet and was well away, he and Tyris leaving Battleship Island far behind.

As expected, the aged lighthouse at the end of the Cape of Good Hope was the first thing to appear on the horizon, before the white sands. The crumbling stone residence and the unkempt flower fields came into sight. It was a clear amber sunset on the coast, the breeze less substantial than it had been on Battleship Island.

The apprehension was heavy in her stomach now she was finally here. Tyris had Quetzal circle the building several times, looking for the white tomb. One of the stone pillars leading to the main entrance had collapsed, and part of the roof had caved in on the south end, near the path to the beach. Eventually, she stopped delaying the inevitable and willed her GF to descend to the prairie.

It had taken almost thirteen years, but she was finally back. Tyris stood exactly where Edea had died. The tombstone might have once been a brilliant white, but it was now covered in overgrowth. Any bouquets respectfully laid at its base over the years long since withered. As it was, the epitaph was illegible. Opening her hand toward it, Tyris sent a small ball of lightning floating toward the stone to crudely clean some of the obstruction, trying to set fire to the growth. The magic did little good, and she did not have her weapons. Quetzal and Ramuh were both depleted.

She was about to start ripping the singed growth away from the tomb when a sonorous voice spoke directly to her mind, resonating to the very recess of her being.

Tyris.

It said the name slowly, but powerfully.

It gives me a tiny respite to see you alive and well, it continued. Not only have you survived, you also bear the Two Halves of Raijin.

'Alexander!' Tyris cried with joy.

She could not see the fortress-like form of the giant GF, but instead a translucent ray of holy light appeared as though shining down from a single break in the clouds. Tyris could sense her own GFs were just as delighted to see him, but they were keeping their eternal reserve.

'Can you restore Edea and Cid's tomb to what it once was?' she pleaded. 'I've never seen it before!'

Of course, child.

An offshoot of off-white light came from the bigger ray, enveloping the tombstone. In no time, it looked as magnificent as it would have when it was first placed here. The white marble gleamed without blemish, and the obsidian writing was in stark contrast to it.

'Thank you, Alexander!' Tyris said gratefully. 'Have you been here ever since that night?'

I have, the stark voice said. I understand that it has been twelve years for you, child. Though for a Guardian Force, that may as well be twelve seconds. Because of my failure, I have vowed in the name of my Elders to remain at these ruins and wallow in eternal sorrow.

With those words, the light was suddenly extinguished as though it had never been, and she could no longer sense Alexander's presence.

'Wait, Alexander!' Tyris shouted, running toward the house. 'It wasn't your fault! You did everything you could for Matron and the children!'

Where has he gone? she asked Ramuh.

He will remain close, but he has masked his presence from us, Ramuh informed her.

Tyris called Alexander's name a few more times, but resignedly turned back toward the white tomb when she got no response. The sunset cast a long shadow across the prairie. Slowly, she approached to read the epitaph.

Here lies Edea Almasy,

A former Descendant of Hyne,

Saviour of the West,

Matron to the Orphans of War,

Matriarch of White SeeD,

Summoner of Alexander,

Guardian of Ellone

...

And her husband, Cid Kramer,

A former Sorceress' Knight,

Hero Commander of the First Sorceress War,

Founder of Garden,

Patriarch of SeeD,

Summoner of Diablos

Friend of the Shumi

...

Even Death cannot do them Apart,

May they Forever Rest in Peace,

Their Beloved Children, Seifer and Tyris,

Shall be Testament to their Legacy

Tyris read the end two lines repeatedly, her mind not processing the words carved into the marble before her very eyes. That her own name was there, next to Seifer's, was incorrect. She was their granddaughter. Surely Steiner had been mistaken.

Struck with a sudden thought, she wondered if Squall or anyone had ever cleared the residence out in the years since. Tyris leapt up the steps where it was said Squall had vowed to become Rinoa's Knight, running into the forecourt of the orphanage. She ran to the front entrance to the building proper, the solid oak door creaking as it opened. Pausing to make sure the foyer was passable, she entered what she remembered had been Matron and Cid's bedchamber.

Tyris had only been in the room once before, the evening she and Thalassa had foolishly gotten themselves alcohol poisoning. The elegant four-poster was still there, the once white sheets now covered in dust. Cobwebs hung from the chandelier, the candelabras, the curtains, and every other object in the room.

Moving to a carved wooden chest in the corner, Tyris unclasped the copper handle and searched for what she had come for. There was a small box inside, nestled between other objects, with a small key in the tiny lock, which she carefully turned. At the top were financial documents. The deeds for the ancient Centran temple which the couple had bought from a historical society, largely with their pensions from Balamb's and Galbadia's militaries. There were decades-old Garden contracts.

Discarding them, Tyris found some old passports, long expired. She was interested to learn Matron's date of birth was listed as two years before Cid's, confirming something she had always wondered about the former Sorceress. That she and Cid had been of the same generation, but Edea had halted the tell-tale signs of middle age. She really had succeeded Jadis at five years old!

So, Matron would have been around forty when Tyris was born, and had recently passed her powers onto Rinoa; still old enough to bear children, and free to do so. Additionally, her old magic might have delayed her aging. There was nothing saying she would have reverted to a middle-aged woman as soon as she lost her powers. The story went that Matron was unaware she was no longer a Sorceress until she met with Odine, weeks after the Battle of the Gardens.

Digging deeper into the box, she found Matron's military records. From what little Tyris knew, Matron had enrolled as a Galbadian officer but had hidden her Sorceress powers initially. She had only revealed herself as Jadis' Successor the night Ellone's parents had been killed, driving Adel and her forces from Winhill. That had been a turning point in the war. According to the documentation, Matron had been a Colonel by the war's end, and was awarded a full pension thereafter. She had also been awarded a Griever's Heart, the highest commendation of the Galbadian military, which Tyris now admired in her hand.

Cid had been summarily discharged from Balamb's army around the same time. Although he had famously been one of Balamb's three heroes during the war, along with Bismarck Dincht and Heihachi Aki, and despite harbouring Diablos' power, Cid had never been promoted further than Lieutenant. Tyris now had to wonder if a young Cid had had more in common with Seifer.

Then Tyris found Matron's birth and marriage certificates, and there she had it. Edea Almasy had been born over six decades before, in Whitecliff, on the Monterosa Plateau. She had married Cid in her early twenties, shortly after the end of the First Sorceress War, and the orphanage had been founded shortly after.

But what about Seifer? Tyris knew he had been in his late thirties, and Matron had still been a Sorceress when he was born. She went back through some of the documents she had cast aside. Underneath several letters type-written to Cid from NORG of Shumi Village, Tyris found some medical documents from what she remembered was a private fertility clinic in Mordred, Esthar's second city. They detailed an in-vitro fertilisation process that had begun thirty-nine years ago. It had resulted in a healthy boy named Seifer, whose growth had been logged with detailed three and four-dimensional scans.

The timing fitted. Esthar had developed IVF just over forty years ago. Matron had infiltrated Esthar numerous times to liaise with Odine. Believing she would be a Sorceress until the day she died, and knowing she could never breed naturally, she had turned to science. Though where did Tyris come into this? If she was also Matron's child, why had she been raised by Seifer and Fujin before the orphanage? Why had Seifer not told her the truth before he died?

Tyris looked from the paperwork to the broken window. The sun now retreated beyond the horizon, a chill filling the air with its departure. Once again, she recognised Alexander's presence before a brilliant ray of light illuminated the bedchamber.

I must request a small ounce of your forgiveness, Tyris. I assumed you may have already learned of your true parentage.

'Alexander, please tell me everything! I'm struggling to understand it!' Tyris exclaimed, moving to sit on the bed.

The Holy Sentinel said nothing at first, and Tyris feared he would disappear again. Though then he spoke.

The thing your dearest mother desired more than anything was to bear children. That was robbed from her when she unwittingly succeeded the accursed Empress Jadis. However, human advancement had come a long way since the first Descendants of Hyne. The Esthari were the first ones to presume toplay at being Hyne Himself; I believe they called the technology in-vitro fertilisation. Sorceress Adel poured resources into its development, as she had struggled to find a suitable Successor. After refusing to give up her powers for millennia, her human body was reaching its limit. She feared ending up like her predecessor, Queen Zenobia of Zebalga, who had no longer resembled anything human. Still, she would never give her powers to Edea.

Sorceress Reina, who I am aware is in fact the dreaded Ultimecia, is the biological daughter of Adel and Odysseus Vlahos. She was hidden well away from Doctor Odine and anyone else Adel did not trust. Ultimecia confirmed as much to Edea and Cid on the night they died.

Odysseus, Tyris thought. Selena's grandfather; High Commander of Esthar's military in the First Sorceress War.

Seifer, your brother, was born within an artificial womb in the city called Mordred. Following the fall of Adel and the abrupt end of that fruitless strife, Edea and Cid had vowed to provide a home for those children whom fate had cruelly taken their parents from them. They could do so from this isolated abode, and the increase in contact helped to ease Edea's ever-present burden.

'I know that my – that Seifer grew up here, before Garden was founded,' Tyris cut in, emotionally spent as she lit a smoke, her voice flat. 'According to the dates, he would have been born just out of wedlock.'

Correct. The Esthari were using the fertility experiments to breed super soldiers, as that bitter war had been going dismally for them in its death throes. Like all the artificially bred children at the time, your brother was genetically engineered to be absent any inherent defects. In battle, Seifer would fear nothing, have resistance to pain and possess superior strength with little atrophy. He would remain emotionally unattached even in the face of death – in theory, at least. That he was also the child of a Sorceress would also give him great affinity with magic. He ended up becoming an embodiment of fire; Ifrit junctioned with him when he was of scant years.

Alas, with those gifted attributes, he was obstinate and would bully the other children, particularly the incessantly tearful Zell and the timorous Squall. Cid and Edea were determined not to show him any more favour than the orphans, even though he was their own flesh and blood. When Cid departed to realise the dream of planting his Garden, he took Seifer with him. Not only for the boy to behold the world but teach him of honour and duty. The fallacy was that Cid informed Seifer his mother had died. In reality, Edea departed here following the construction of her magnificent ship, taking the orphans that she had been unable to rehome with her, the eldest of which were Ellone and Kurin. In time, Ifrit caused Seifer to forget most memories of his mother.

When Alexander paused in his recitation, Tyris flicked the end of her cig out of the window.

'I know that Seifer spent most of his youth at Balamb Garden,' she said. 'But he never passed the SeeD test. He was around my age when he left to become Edea's Knight.'

The light of the holy GF dimmed and brightened before Alexander spoke again.

Cid was torn. SeeD's true mission in its genesis was to stand against maleficent Descendants of Hyne. He did not truly believe that Edea would turn malign, but as her Knight, he would come to be apart from her for many years. If there was even a remote possibility that he would have to command his son to kill his mother, Cid would not take the chance. He repeatedly failed Seifer following his examinations, even though the boy had clearly lived up to the expectations of his altered gene therapy. Seifer possessed a lion's heart akin to his rival's. He had shown leadership qualities and had demonstrated bold judgment in fraught situations. He was always at the head of the vanguard, using offense as the best defense, never hesitating to take the fight to his enemies. Even if he was a little hasty in rushing into battle, he was still a cub.

When Alexander paused again, Tyris said, 'So when Seifer first met Edea again, in Timber – when he took Vinzer Deling hostage – he remembered that she was his mother again after that?'

Indeed. Although Ultimecia did not hesitate to stretch the truth, including the circumstances behind his birth and the manner in which Edea and Cid separated. No doubt this was an attempt to sully the faint memories Seifer had of his mother, and to make him resent her. Seifer was impressionable, his mind not as firm as his body, and the sudden revelation of his birth just days after again failing to become a SeeD compounded his lunacy at the time.

The result was his entire role in the Second Sorceress War thereafter. Even the uncharacteristically quiet words of Fujin did not dissuade Seifer at Lunatic Pandora. He finally came to his senses when he witnessed Sorceress Rinoa – his first love – junctioned with the possessed Adel, repeatedly crying out in agony as Ultimecia siphoned her lifeforce. Seifer had almost resolved to intervene in that fight himself, until the alien Gilgamesh arrived and beheaded Adel. And his boyhood dream died along with Adel, as he knew he would never be a Sorceress' Knight again.

Tyris nodded, then walked to the broken window. Night had come, the silhouette of the lighthouse visible on the end of the coast.

'So, where do I come into this?' she asked, for she still had no answer. 'Why was I led to believe that Seifer and Fujin were my parents?'

As you have already concluded, Edea was free to have a natural birth, and was fortunate enough to retain her extended youth. Your parents were blessed with you, Tyris. Although Edea did not discover that she was with child until her journey to Esthar, which is why she did not opt to accompany her Children of Fate to the future. You arrived unto the Planet within this very chamber, Tyris, almost twenty summers ago. Alas, with the high casualty rate of the briefest of the Sorceress Wars, Edea naturally felt obliged to do something for the world that she had brought so much ruin to. With Squall and Kurin proven enough to take the reins of SeeD from their founders, this orphanage was restored, and your mother was known as Matron once more.

'Why was I sent away?' Tyris demanded.

Patience, Tyris! Sometime after your birth, Seifer sought out his parents. He appeared here with Fujin. Initially, I feared he had come to exact vengeance upon his mother and father for their part in turning him to frenzy. Yet, ready to seek redemption, he and Fujin came in peace, having recently acknowledged their true feelings for one another. Seifer had no desire to return to Garden and knew that Squall would never allow it, though he wished to reconstruct his family if there was even a remote possibility that he could do so.

Of your mother and father, he asked his parents both for forgiveness and their blessing for his union with Fujin. There were lengthy, heartfelt discussions as your brother resided here for several weeks. Ultimately, the hatchet was buried. Your parents did not want to make the same errors they did with Seifer; Edea and Cid wanted you to have as normal an upbringing as you could. They did not desire you to have the life of an orphan, indistinct from the rest.

There was also the possibility you were in danger of being used as leverage against your mother, should her location be discovered. Seifer had been pardoned in Galbadia, yet, understandably, mortals the world over cried out for Edea's blood. I was sworn to defend her, though she had lost her Sorceress powers, and she believed you would be safer with Seifer and Fujin. Fujin had earlier been warned by Pandemonium that she was infertile, and at the time, the west had not caught up with the east with fertility technology. They agreed to raise you as their own, Seifer accepting this as part of his penance for the grief he had caused his father.

Tyris did not say anything as Alexander trailed off, fumbling for her last cigarette. Tears had come to her eyes once more, and she did not attempt to reply for fear of betraying a sob. If anything, it explained why she had been sent here after the Fall of Balamb, and not to Winhill. Perhaps after six years of atoning for sins that were not her own, Seifer had convinced Edea to have another opportunity at motherhood. All Tyris knew was that this would make her inevitable reunion with Fujin somewhat easier. She did not know how she should feel, now with the knowledge that her parents had died all those years before.

She realised there was one who could show her the whole of it. Ellone. Yet that same woman had recently been widowed by Tyris' hand; she did not believe it would ever happen.

'I'm going back to the grave,' she finally got out. 'Thank you, Alexander.'

His light faded until it was gone. She did not have the energy or the desire to call him back. The Allies could return in force later to try and pull the Holy Sentinel out of his self-imposed exile, though for now, Alexander would be left alone. Tyris left the bedchamber and slowly walked back to the white tomb, reading the epitaph once more.

Testament to Edea and Cid's legacy, she thought.

'I loved the two of you with all my heart, even before I knew the truth,' Tyris said, kneeling before the tomb. 'I vow to do everything I can to live up to your names. Thalassa and I will put an end to Ultimecia. I swear it.'

(A/N: Well, that was my pipebomb. I had a mind to make Tyris the daughter of Edea and Cid in the planning stages, and I decided go with it when I started writing from her POV. I hope you all liked it!)