Finally, I write a FF4 tale out of the actual game timeline. This story takes place a few hours after the game ends. Characters are property of . . . well, whoever owns them, I suppose. Fics to read before this one: Don't Jump, Kain, Don't Jump! Disclaimer's at the end, please enjoy!

Black Lightning and Red Eyes

It was almost morning, as was told by the early light peeking over the horizon. Few noticed it, however, being either too involved in the festivities still . . . or hung over and passed out. After all, the marriage of King Cecil to Rosa, the White Wizard (as well as his ascension to the Baronian throne), was, without a large doubt, the biggest party to hit the Kingdom of Baron in a hundred years. As the night went on, the wine flowed quite freely.

Perhaps too much so, in certain cases.

"What?!" Rydia snapped at Rosa's statement. "Of course I'm sober enough to get my way home!"

"I'm just saying - " the new Queen began before being cut off in a fiery torrent.

"You're just saying what?! I've hardly touched any of the stuff! No more than you did!"

"Look, all I'm suggesting is that - "

"You're suggesting that just because I'm only five years old, I can't handle alcohol as well as the rest of you! C'mon, Rosa, I'm over 21!"

Rosa wasn't even going to try to figure out exactly how old the Caller was. The topic was just too confusing.

"Besides," Rydia continued adamantly, "I'm not driving. I'm summoning Chocobo. Asura said he'd be glad to take me home."

Rosa sighed. Rydia was not going to give in.

"Well, I suppose if Chocobo's taking you . . . "

"He is."

"Fine. Go on home, we'll see you some other time."

"Right." The Caller's sudden smile lit up her face as she caught the older woman in a congratulatory embrace that winded her. "Have fun, Your Highness!"

Before Rosa could get her breath back, the Caller was gone in a streak of green, flowing hair.

Clearing the city walls, although the implications of summoning the great bird in the middle the city were appealingly chaotic, Rydia chanted the familiar words and summoned Chocobo. In a quick bolt of light, the yellow bird appeared in front of her, looking around in astonishment.

"I told you," he snapped grumpily. "Warn me before you do that!!"

Unable to help herself, she broke into laughter at the sour expression on his face. Apparently, she'd waked him.

Grumbling to himself, Chocobo muttered that the sooner they headed back to the Land of Summoned Monsters, the sooner they'd get there, and the sooner he could go back to sleep. Still giggling, Rydia climbed onto his back, and they set off.

"So, how was the party?" Chocobo asked her after they'd been moving for awhile, and he was a bit more awake.

"Oh, it was great!" Rydia replied. "Everyone was there - well, except for Kain - and it was just like old times, only better, because we weren't all out on some quest to save the planet. Only then Rosa starts up saying that maybe I should wait to go back because she thought I was too drunk to find my way home! Imagine!!"

"Hey!" Chocobo exclaimed, pulling up sharp. "You're not old enough to drink!"

"I'm over 21," Rydia crossly informed him.

"Not hardly! You're only five!"

"No I'm not!"

Chocobo didn't press the point. It was too confusing.

Rydia looked over the view from where they'd stopped moving. They'd been traveling along the coastline for quite some time, and were now standing at the edge of a huge cliff over-looking the water below. As she watched, the sun slowly peeked over the horizon, spreading it's golden and scarlet rays over the ocean.

Sighing, she and Chocobo stood there for a moment, appreciating the moment. One couldn't see a sunrise in the Land of Summoned Monsters.

Then she sniffed.

"Too drunk to get home, my foot."

And then she passed out and fell off her Chocobo.

1)---------- In Which, Rydia realizes that she's been very stupid.

Chocobo watched in a form of mesmorized horror as Rydia slipped off his back and down the cliff to the ocean below. It happened in a split second, and while he was still trying to figure out exactly what had happened, she vanished from sight.

Reacting, he turned and found his way down a very vague path down the cliffside and searched along the thin stretch of rocky beach for any sign of her, but it was as if she'd completely vanished.

She probably got pulled out in the current, he realized. That's it: I've gotta learn to swim.

Without another thought, he turned feathered tail and bolted back for Baron.

"She what?!" Cecil exclaimed in a voice that made Chocobo wince.

"She passed out and fell off a cliff," he repeated in a weak voice. Before Cecil could voice a fiery retort, he snapped, "Hey, who's the one who let a five year old get drunk anyway?!"

"Rydia hardly drank anything!" Rosa cried, realizing all at once that if Rydia was hurt, the responsibility belonged to them.

Cecil blinked in astonishment.

"Huh? Who let her drink anything, anyway? She's only five!!"

"No she's not," came the soft, almost sulky retort from the man in the corner.

As one, the others, Cecil, Rosa, Edge, Yang, and Chocobo turned to glare at him.

"Cid . . . " Rosa began in a dark voice.

The engineer shrugged, turning a guilty shade of red beneath his thick beard.

"She's very persuasive."

"So you let her talk you into letting her get drunk off her butt?!" Chocobo yelled.

"She said she'd drink in moderation!!" he helplessly exclaimed.

"But she's only five years old!!"

"She told me she was 21!"

"She is! What's your point?!"

Within moments, everyone was yelling to the point where no one could even begin to understand one another. Then their attention was caught by a quick whooshing of air, and Cid jumped, yelping, as the Murasame suddenly appeared in the wall, about half an inch away from his ear.

"Now that I have your attention," Edge said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "what say we stop bickering and try to find her?"

"Hm. If she fell in the ocean, couldn't Leviathan find her fairly easily?" Cecil suggested.

Chocobo shrugged.

"Oh, sure. Except that a summoned monster can only enter the overworld when summoned!!"

"So we'd just need to summon him, then?"

Chocobo glared at Edge as if he were an idiot.

"Just need to summon him? Sure! Easy . . . if you happen to be a Caller!"

That stumped them. Even though there were a few other survivors from Cecil and Kain's unintentional obliteration of the Callers' town, there were no others who possessed the ability to summon Leviathan.

So it was all up to them to find their missing comrade.

"Split up," Cecil ordered, trying to muster some confidence into his voice. "We've got the Redwings at our disposal - we'll find her."

As Rydia slowly returned to her senses, the first thing she was aware of was that she was cold. The second was that she was wet. The third was that she was experiencing her first ever hangover.

Groaning pathetically, she sat up and rubbed her temples, trying to recall what had happened. She was sitting next to a small campfire near a sandy beach and covered in a rough but warm blanket, although neither seemed to help rid her body of the deep chill she felt.

Where was she? What had happened? And why on Earth did she have such a terrible headache?!

"I would ask what you're doing here," came a voice that interrupted her vague thoughts and startled her, "but I'm not sure yet whether I really want to know."

Turning to the source of the voice, she blinked in astonishment at the figure who sat a short distance away with a slight smirk.

"Kain?!"

The Dragoon shrugged lightly, running an idle hand through his fair hair.

"Who else? I was beginning to think you'd planned this. Of all the beaches in the world, you wash up on the one I happened to be walking near."

Rydia put a hand to her head, making sure she was fully awake.

"What are you doing here?" she sputtered.

"Me?" he replied, raising his eyebrows. "I'm on a quest for spiritual fulfillment! But what are you doing here?"

She screwed her eyebrows together in a frown of deep thought.

"Euh . . . um . . . I'm not completely sure."

"Amnesia?" Kain suggested.

"No." She sighed. "Hangover."

"You?!" sputtered her companion. He appeared to be uncertain whether to laugh or just stare at her. "But you're only five!"

"Oh, shove it!!" she yelled, the painful effects of her unplanned sea voyage suddenly gone. "Why does everyone treat me like an inferior?!?!"

Kain burst into a gout of laughter that only made Rydia's mood grow darker and darker.

"Oh yeah, some friend you turned out to be," she grumbled under her breath.

Finally, when he was done laughing and she felt thoroughly ridiculous, he rose and pulled her to her feet.

"Well, c'mon. We're pretty about a day's walk from Mysidia. Once we get there, we can send word to Cecil. They're probably wondering where you ended up."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, jumping at a sudden whim. "Why bother? Let me come with you!"

He made a pained expression.

"I told you: I'm on a quest for spiritual fulfillment."

"So? Even the spiritually unfulfilled need some company!"

Kain eyed her suspiciously.

"Um . . . you wanna tell me why on Earth you'd even want to?"

She shrugged.

"Because Asura's gonna kill me."

"I thought as much. Let's go."

"No, listen, not just because Asura's gonna kill me!!"

He crossed his arms.

"Then why?"

Sqirming uncomfortably, the Caller pushed a locke of damp green hair away from her face.

"Listen, man, I'm a Caller . . . and living in the Land of Summoned Monsters is really cool . . . in its own way . . . but after a while you do get to miss having, you know, humans around."

"So why not stay in Baron for awhile? Cecil and Rosa wouldn't mind, I'm sure."

"Cecil and Rosa just got married, Kain. I think they're a little busy."

"Fine, then. I'm sure Edge would enjoy your company."

"One more comment like that and I'm going to bash your head in."

"All right, we wouldn't want that to happen."

"Look, Kain, I'd just rather go with you."

"Why?"

"Because it would be more fun! Off on a quest, just like old times!"

The Dragoon fixed her with a serious look.

"This isn't about having fun, Rydia. It's very serious."

She gave him a friendly clout on the shoulder.

"It's too serious, man. You are blaming yourself waaaaaay too much. That's why you need me."

He grinned.

"Nice try. Now let's go."

"But - "

"Look at it this way, Rydia. The longer you're lost, the more Asura'a going to kill you, and the longer we're together, the more Asura's going to kill me for not handing you in. So let's go."

Kain picked up his helmet from its resting place on the grassy strip of land between the beach and the forest and set off, tugging the protesting Caller behind him.

"That's it," she sulked after a time. "I'm never drinking again! It ends in disaster!"

"Good for you. Now pick up your feet. We'll move faster."

2)---------- In Which, evil manifests itself.

Outside of the city walls of Baron, but still within the cultivated lands of the Kingdom, construction had been commenced on a new and very ambitious project. Already, in just the few short months since the defeat of Zeromus, the lower levels had already been dug out and the foundation laid, and the bare, wooden frame loomed in the setting sun with an eerie appearance of something sinister. When it was completed, however, it was to be the greatest triumph and tribute to mankind's accomplishments on the Earth: the Great Library.

From all over the world, books and manuscripts, many already ancient, had been imported. By this time next year, it would hold all the combined knowledge of each country and kingdom, and a lasting symbol of harmony among rulers.

Now, a lone figure wandered through the construction camp, humming absently and looking over the progress. A tall figure, one long plait of deep blue hair streaming out behind her, sword slung across her back, seemingly unconcerned that all personnel in the camp had mysteriously vanished.

Her name was Veronica, and under her arm she carried a book that must have once been bright red before centuries of wear had taken its toll. This book had been among the many kept in storage in one of the many temporary buildings constructed hastily to provide for the builders. One out of the hundreds of thousands. One with some very special information.

Something caught her eye, and she stopped her aimless wandering to examine it. Sticking out of a pile of ash near the scaffolding of the soon-to-be Great Library, she found the yellowed, crumbling, skeletal hand - the only thing remaining of one of the builders. Laughing softly to herself, she walked on, considering her options.

"Here's where she fell off," a slightly airsick Chocobo informed Cecil.

"All right. Signal for the others to stop," Cecil told a crewman, who nodded and ran to signal to the other airships.

The Enterprise came to a halt above the specified site.

"What now?" Rosa softly inquired of her new husband as he eyed the cliff below with some skepticism.

He was still trying to formulate a response when the Falcon came to a halt beside them. Edge appeared at the side and shouted something to them. Cecil hurried to the side of the airship.

"What?" he called.

"I said - What now?!" the Ninja King repeated.

Cecil rolled his eyes inwardly and signaled for the airships to land.

"There's no sign of her anywhere here," Yang said after they regrouped from a quick sweeping of the area. "She must have washed up somewhere else."

"What's the current out here like?" Cecil inquired.

"Unpredictable."

"Well that just figures."

Edge was not enjoying this development.

"So, Your Highness, what's next?" he demanded impatiently.

Cecil glared at him.

"You and Cid take the Falcon. Yang and Chocobo, take one of the Redwings. Rosa and I'll take the Enterprise. We'll comb the coastlines until we find her. She's got to be somewhere."

" - and then he started flapping around Murasame and Masamune and tried to jump off the tower, saying he could fly just as well without the Falcon as with!"

Kain blinked.

"Edge did that?!"

"Sure! Crack on me all you want, but there's someone who can't handle alcohol!"

"No comment. So what happened?"

"Well, Cid comes along and says that only an impertinent idiot like him would be so stupid, and they both started fighting again, and Edge forgot all about it."

Deciding that the tension between them was too high for her liking, Rydia was keeping them both entertained during their journey with all the interesting news she had from everyone, as well as some . . . interesting . . . tales from the wedding reception.

"Later on, he started flirting with Rosa, and then Cecil stepped in."

"Yeah, I can see how he would."

"Still, he wasn't really mad, seeing as how Edge was too partied out to know what he was doing, so he shoved him in the moat to cool off."

"Cecil shoved Edge into the moat?"

"Yep!"

"Now that I would've liked to see."

"Yeah, you kinda had to be there."

Veronica, sitting against one of the pillars of the frame for the Library, sifted through the book once more, looking for something interesting. A heading caught her attention - homing in on one's most dangerous enemies. Shrugging inwardly, she figured that in her present status, she should be aware of who her enemies were. Not exactly sure of what to expect, she spoke aloud in a voice like black velvet the passage beneath the heading.

"So come on, Kain. If I have to go back, you should, too."

"What do you mean?" he lightly inquired, not missing a step or even looking at her.

"You know what I mean!" she reprimanded. "You've been on this quest of yours for over two months. No one's heard a word from you! How much longer are you going to stay out here on your own?"

"Until I find what I'm looking for."

"And what are you looking for? Forgiveness? You already have that, and in any case, you can hardly find it out here alone, Kain."

"No, not forgiveness."

"Then what?"

He stopped walking, staring ahead with unfocused eyes.

"I'm not sure," he said in a dry tone. "At first, I thought it was forgiveness. But that's just not it."

Her large, blue eyes betrayed her lack of understanding.

"Well . . . you still should go back to Baron. Everyone misses you."

He sighed.

"Maybe that's part of the problem."

Now the Caller was really confused.

"What do you mean?"

For a long moment, he was silent. Then, when he made to answer, he was cut off by a bolt of black lightning which split through the sky and the forest around them.

It struck the ground in front of them and evaporated, leaving in its place a tall woman with dark blue hair, a book under her arm and -

- deep red eyes that met Kain's own, holding them both in a moment of shock -

- a moment shattered by Rydia, who grabbed the chain she still carried, more for sentimental value than for a weapon these days, and lashed out at the woman.

"Thief!!!" she yelled in a blaze of fury that made even Kain take a step back. The chain slapped the woman across the face, sending her flying to the ground, where she looked up at the Caller for a brief moment, after which a look of realization swept over her and she grabbed the sword from her back. When Rydia struck again, she lashed forward with her blade, and the chain wrapped around it. The woman yanked a surprised Rydia's weapon out of her grasp and leapt through the air at the Caller.

Kain, startled by what was happening, entered the conflict then, swiping forth with his Lance, colliding with Rydia's attacker before she could strike her target, knocking her own weapon from her hands.

"Get the book!!!" Rydia shouted, retrieving her weapon from where it had fallen.

Veronica spared the Caller an angry look, and during this look the Dragoon struck, fetching her a staggering blow to the head with the handle of his Lance, intending to knock her out, but not kill her. Dazed, she stumbled back, and Rydia jumped on her from behind, trying to get the book still held under the woman's arm. The blue-haired woman shrieked out a torrent of words that meant nothing to Kain, but obviously meant something to Rydia, who's eyes widened in shock and she quickly released her grip. The moment after she did, Veronica vanished in another bolt of black lightning, grabbing her sword as she vanished.

Rydia still held a blazing fury in her eyes as she turned to Kain. His own deep red eyes contained a mixture of shock and horror that surprised her.

"Are you all right?" he asked in a tight voice.

She nodded.

"That book - I know that book. It's from my home village."

A concerned expression passed over the Dragoon's features.

"A Caller book?"

"Not hardly! It's from a time before Callers. A book of spells - darker than any black magic seen on this planet in thousands of years. She could obliterate a city with one spell!! I thought it had been destroyed when you . . . when my village was burned."

"Apparently not." He turned to where the woman had vanished.

"But how did she get it?! I mean, if it had been found intact, there's no way it would be left in her hands . . . just who is she, anyway?"

Rydia, in her passion, didn't expect a reply to that, and was therefore more than surprised when Kain replied,

"She's an engineer. Her name is Veronica. Before Golbez took things over, she worked for Cid, but shortly before he came into power, she changed her major to the architectural field, where she showed more promise."

Frowning, Rydia asked how he knew that.

Kain finally tore his eyes from the place where she'd vanished.

"Because she's my half-sister."

Not even trying to stifle her gasp, Rydia felt her knees grow weak.

Kain went to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Listen to me, Rydia. You've got to tell me what's in that book. She's a good person, all around. A little too ambitious at times, but she'd never make use of anything as evil as what you say about that book. What is in it that could drive her to evil?!" he demanded, squeezing her shoulders.

"Kain - you're hurting me," she said in a tiny voice, frightened by the cold determination in his eyes. It was so unlike him, and frankly, she felt very scared of him in that moment.

Jumping as if slapped, he immediately released her grip on her and turned away.

"Sorry," he said after a moment.

"Don't worry about it," she said slowly, walking around to face him. "I don't know for sure what's in the book. It's not been read for thousands of years, by sacred orders. All I know is what the legends say, and that's that it contains the powers of an ancient evil more potent than anything we know. The legend scared me, until we fought Zeromus. He was the hatred incarnate - if we could defeat him, then we can take on whatever's in that book."

"If it's just spells . . . " he began, allowing his eyes to meet hers.

She shook her head.

"It's said that the essence of this being lives in his words. Anyone who reads those spells chances being engulfed, anyone who reads them out-loud is instantly taken by his spirit."

His expression was steady.

"So this force is controlling her the way Zeromus controlled me."

"Yes."

"And you being a Caller, it probably knows you're the only one who might know enough to stop it."

"More than likely."

"And that's why Veronica came here after you."

"Probably."

For a long moment, they stood there silently, considering what they could do.

"We'd better find Cecil," Kain finally said.

This time, Rydia had no objections.

"There it is again!!" Edge exclaimed as a second bolt of black lightning streaked through the sky around them.

Cid huffed through his beard.

"Look, kid, I'm an engineer, not a meteorologist. I don't know why there's black lightning."

"But the sky is clear!!!" Edge almost yelled, strangely paranoid by the strange phenomenon. "There shouldn't be any lightning, much less black lightning!"

Cid smacked the top of the Ninja's head.

"Calm down before you run the Falcon into a mountain! Which are you more concerned with: black lightning, or finding Rydia?"

Pursing his lips, Edge took determined control of the airship once more and they continued scaling the coastline.

After about an hour of silence from the pair, Cid told Edge to stop the Falcon. Obeying quickly and hurrying to the engineer's side at the end of the deck, he asked "Do you see something?"

"Look down there," Cid said, pointing to a beach near a forest. "It looks like someone was there, probably today, or else the tide would've eliminated the signs."

"Good enough. Let's take 'er down."

Veronica appeared again at the site for the Great Library. Seething, she sat down and gingerly fingered the wound the young Caller had fetched her across the face.

"Kain . . . "

His appearance there had caught her off guard, and at first she'd thought that he was to be her greatest enemy, which would have troubled her a bit. Then, though, the Caller made her presence known . . . of course, if this book had come from the remains of the Caller's village, there was a chance that she might have the power to thwart her plans. That being the case, the Caller would have to be eliminated.

" . . . how could you . . . "

But he had raised arms against her to protect the girl, the child with the green hair and bright blue eyes. Why were they there together? Why would he lash out against her, his own blood, to protect the Caller?

Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and then her thinking cleared.

Of course. The Caller must by Rydia, the survivor of Kane and the new King Cecil's inadvertent massacre, who had traveled with the others to thwart Zeromus and save the planet. She knew the story. Everyone knew the story. How could she have forgotten? So it was likely that the two had grown close during their travails . . . but enough so that he would attack his own sister?

" . . . betray me?"

She sighed. It was clear now. Kain would have to be eliminated as well, along with anyone else who stood between her and the Caller's demise.

Cecil and Rosa were painfully unsuccessful with their search. Night was falling, quickly now, and soon they would have to either land where they were or go back to Baron. Probably the latter, so they could compare notes with the others. In any case, soon it would be useless to attempt a search because of the darkness.

Letting a crewman pilot the Enterprise, the couple stood silently, looking over the railing of the airship.

"One can't help but feel responsible . . . " Rosa sighed as the ground below flew by. Cecil looked at her questioningly. "I never should have let her go."

With a wry smile, he replied, "You couldn't have stopped her. No one can stop her when she's set on something. In that respect, she's a lot like you."

In spite of herself, Rosa smiled.

"She's all right," Cecil said, perhaps more to himself than to her. "Nothing could crack a skull as thick as hers."

"Sir!" interrupted a nervous page, who came stumbling over to them.

"Yes?"

"We're being followed!!!"

Raising an eyebrow each, Cecil and Rosa turned to see behind them and could see the approaching form of one of the Redwings.

"Slow down, let them match our speed," Cecil ordered the pilot. "And you, calm down," he told the page, who looked ready to pass out. "Are you new at this job?"

The page turned several shades paler.

"Um . . . does it show, sir?"

"Yes, very much so."

"Sorry."

"Oh, go get something to eat."

With that as a dismissal, he watched as the other airship came up beside them and matched speeds. A bridge was extended between the ships, and at their reduced speed, it was possible for a messenger to board the Enterprise.

"What is it?" Cecil asked, knowing that it would have to be an emergency for the Enterprise to be contacted like this.

"It's very strange, Your Highness," the messenger said. "A messenger to the Great Library site returned to Baron half an hour ago and said that the entire camp was deserted!"

"Deserted?" he repeated. "Was there any sign of attack?"

"Not that he could see, sir. We needed your permission to formally investigate."

Cecil glanced at Rosa, concern and mild confusion crossing both their features.

"It's too dark to continue searching anyway, Cecil," Rosa said. "Let's go back, and we can decide what to do."

Cecil nodded. Turning back to the messenger, he said,

"Go back to your ship and tell them we'll follow them back."

3)---------- In Which, Cecil uncovers dirty work afoot.

Veronica flipped through the pages again, searching. Finally, after a frantic moment when she thought it wouldn't be there, she found it: Attack Warning. Smiling as she chanted the words, she knew that no one could approach her now without her knowing it, and as long as this was the case, she could take out anyone who opposed her.

When the spell was cast and a bolt of black lightning shot up and split in all directions, forming a barrier that quickly vanished from view but remained in operation, she removed the binding in her long hair, letting it fall loosely about her shoulders. Sitting there in the empty encampment, the aura of desecration and massacre all around her, she felt a sudden pang of guilt and realization, but it was quickly quelled by a sweeping sensation of comfort.

Everything was as it should be. She stretched out next to the frame of the Great Library and went to sleep in the silvery starlight.

Edge and Cid looked around.

"Someone was here earlier today, that's certain," the Ninja flatly stated.

There was plain evidence of a small fire on the thin stretch of grass that passed between the beach and the forest.

"Anything to suggest it had anything to do with her, though?" Cid mused, feeling the full brunt of guilt, being the one who had let the Caller obtain alcoholic beverages in the first place.

Edge didn't say anything. Instead, he knelt beside the drowned fire, sifting through the grass with his fingers. Cid watched him silently, until the Ninja stood again, a piece of long, green hair dangling from his hand.

"She was here," was all he said.

They ran over the evidence. The tide was beginning to come in, but they could tell from the footprints that someone had apparently gone through the sandy beach to the water, then come back with a heavier load. It was possible that someone had seen Rydia in the water, gone out and fetched her, and brought her back, where a campfire was lit. Nothing else could be deduced.

"She could be safe, if someone found her," Cid suggested.

"Who's to say whoever found her had 'safe' intentions?" Edge suggested back. "And no matter who found her, there's still no guarantee that she even survived the fall, much less the ocean current. Nothing's changed. We don't know where she is, and she could be hurt, or worse."

"But we know she was here," Cid reminded him. "That at least says we're on the right track. Now, though, it's too dark to keep searching. We couldn't see her, especially if she's taken to the woods."

"And that blasted green hair of hers is almost like a camouflage," Edge muttered. "I still think we should keep looking."

"Why? Kid, it would do no good, and you know that. We couldn't track her in the dark. Let's go back to Baron, and tomorrow, we can get the others to help us look here."

Edge sighed and agreed that this was the best course of action.

"What's up with this, anyway? I don't remember there being a forest here!" he sulked.

Cid laughed at him.

"Where've you been, kid?! It's every farmer's dream - a magical Miracle Grow! Cast a spell, and the plant appears before you. So far, though, it's only been perfected in trees."

"Oh, great. We get to search through a forest of magical trees. This - this - this really bites, man!"

"We should stop for the night," Kain observed as Rydia unwittingly walked into a tree in the darkness.

"No way!!" she objected. "How could you even consider sleeping with a manifested evil stalking us?!"

"You know as well as I do, Rydia, that if we don't get enough rest, we won't be able to properly defend ourselves if . . . something were to attack us."

She smirked.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Allowing herself to flop down on her back, she conceded that "Besides, I am danged tired!"

"That makes sense," Kain admitted, sitting near her with a dry smile. "I'd say you had the mother of rough days, and after a night of partying, no less."

She rolled her head to one side to glare at him.

"Are you picking on me?" she demanded.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Good."

He pulled off his helmet and set it on the mossy forest floor beside him, leaning against a tree and looking up at the stars. They should reach Mysidia by noon the next day, and from there could take the Serpent Road back to Baron . . . and then what?

"So Kain . . . you gonna delay your quest now?" Rydia asked, unwittingly echoing his thoughts.

"I suppose I have to," he replied with a tinge of sadness in his voice. "A force as evil as you say is going to need all the opposition it can get."

"And besides, she's your sister."

"Half."

"Half sister."

He made no reply.

"Well . . . look at it this way: Cecil had to do the same thing."

Slowly turning his gaze from the stars to meet her own, he said "Yeah, but he didn't know it until it was over. He never knew it was his brother he was fighting." A low sigh escaped him. "And this time, we don't have a friendly Lunarian to break the spell."

Rydia turned that one over in her head.

"But then," he went on, "I guess you're hardly the one to be talking about this with. After all, I helped obliterate all your family and friends."

Before she was aware of it, Rydia had jumped up and run over to sit beside him, grabbing his arm.

"Kain, Kain, you take the blame for too many things! You didn't know! I don't blame you for it, and neither do any of the other survivors, and I'm dead sure that my mother, wherever she is, doesn't blame you either. Just like no one blames you for whatever you did under Zeromus' control. Why can't you get that through your thick skull?! It wasn't your fault!"

He shook his head at her, his expression calm and logical.

"I can't explain it to you, Rydia. There's just a point you reach, where you've been used too many times . . . and it makes you wonder - what good is a heart that can be turned against those you care about with a few words and some magical know-how? And how can you continue in any form of relationship with anyone when you know that easily one person could be turned against the other, and not even realize it until it's too late, if ever?"

She returned his cool expression to some extent, allowing a small bit of compassion to slide through.

"I've been charmed, Kain, yet I still go into battle. I know that I could easily be made to hurt or swoon one of my friends, and that the same could happen to any of them. But there are potions and spells that can heal any damage done while someone's under the charm. Now, I'll be the first to admit that no potion or spell can heal a broken trust, but I also know that forgiveness and will can. You have all our forgiveness, Kain. All you need is the will."

A faint smile tugged at a corner of his lips.

"I think, Rydia, that maybe that's what I'm looking for."

Smiling weakly in return, the Caller wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

"Looking is the first step to achieving - and coming back with me is the second," she said softly. Then she broke her hold and flopped back on the forest floor. "But for me, the first step to achieving is to sleep. Goodnight, Kain."

"Goodnight, Rydia," he replied, grinning and shaking his head. Silently, he wished Edge luck. The Ninja was going to need all the luck he could get if he was ever going to win this girl over.

The six had some decisions to make.

Edge and Cid were the only ones to have any success in their search. Yang and Chocobo had drawn a complete blank, as had Cecil and Rosa. Also, however, there was now the matter of the Great Library.

"Veronica would've found a way to send word if something was wrong," Cid told them. "She's a very resourceful girl."

"I know," Cecil wryly acknowledged. "That's why I put her in charge of overseeing the construction."

"There were two-hundred workers at that site," Rosa reminded them. "Their disappearance has to be looked into."

"And it's my obligation to do it," Cecil admitted regretfully. "Okay. First thing in the morning, I'll head to the Great Library in one of the Redwings. Edge, Cid, Yang, and Rosa, take the Falcon and the Enterprise and keep looking for Rydia." Then he turned to the chocobo, who was still looking a bit green under his yellow feathers. "Euh . . . you stay here in case someone sends word. You don't want to get airsick again."

"If only I were a black chocobo . . . " Chocobo whined.

"Oh, get over it!!" Yang snapped in uncharacteristic annoyance, having had to put up with his whining all through their search that day.

"That established . . . " Edge muttered to himself.

"Okay - let's get some sleep," Rosa suggested. Nodding, they retreated to their rooms.

Veronica awoke with a start as she felt a mild electric charge run through her. Sitting up quickly, she realized that the sun was already rising, and by squinting into the early sunlight, she could perceive a dark shape moving toward the site.

The charge - it was a warning. Someone's coming.

Interested, she hid herself in one of the tents in the camp and waited to see who the investigator turned out to be.

As the vessel moved out of direct sunlight and made to land nearby, her eyes widened in recognition.

That's one of the Redwings! Cecil must've sent someone to investigate!

Allowing herself a small grin, she imagined the expression on her childhood friend's face when whoever was in this party never returned. When the party emerged from the airship, though, she got a shock.

Ah, so it's King Cecil himself. What's he doing here?

She supposed it didn't matter. If he started pushing the wrong buttons, he would be easily eliminated.

"This is only about a day's walk from Mysidia," Yang pointed out. "She and whoever is with her may have headed for there."

"Good call, man," Edge acknowledged. "You and Rosa go on ahead. We'll meet you there."

Rosa and Yang nodded acquiescence to that and climbed back aboard the Enterprise.

"Okay," Edge said, watching them take off and shoot away toward Mysidia, "let's get looking."

"How do you propose we start looking?" Cid inquired cynically.

Edge affected a righteous attitude.

"I'm a Ninja King! I have the tracking skills of a wolf!"

"And the common sense of a piece of mud," Cid added. He sighed. "All right, Your Highness, let's get going."

"His name was Borthus."

Kain glanced at her.

"Huh?"

"This evil force. His name was Borthus. He once stood on the threshold of having our entire planet in his hands."

"What stopped him?"

Rydia scratched her head.

"I haven't the foggiest."

"Oh, peachy."

At about the moment, they cleared the magical forest. Now, looking over the empty grasslands that would be the final portion of their journey, the thought of what they would do after reuniting with the others weighed heavily on their minds.

They knew there was a manifested evil lurking about. They knew his name was Borthus, and he had possessed the body of Veronica, and that he had the power to conquer the planet, unless they managed to stop him.

And how would they stop him? Could they even stop him without destroying Veronica in the process?

"There are others in my village who might know something," Rydia reminded him.

He shrugged.

"Well, we won't find out standing here."

Grinning with equal feelings of uncertainty and determination, the two companions headed out through the grasslands to Mysidia.

The crew of the Redwing Rapier was, to say the least, a little nervous about this investigation.

"Sir . . . but that was . . . black lightning!!!!!" pointed out the nervous page.

Cecil scrutinized the page.

"I thought you were assigned to the Enterprise."

"Hm? Oh, I was, sir, but I was transferred here because it was supposed to be . . . less stressful."

Cecil rolled his eyes in sympathy.

"What's your name?" he inquired, figuring that there was no way he was going to get the nervous page out of his hair.

"Bob, sir," the nervous page replied.

"Bob?" Cecil repeated. What an odd name. "Okay. Black lightning is unusual, granted, so the fact that it shot out around us when we entered the construction site suggests that it may be connected to the disappearance of the builders. Since that's what we're here to investigate, I think we should find out exactly what's behind this black lightning, don't you?"

"Hmmmmmmmm . . . I suppose so, sir," Bob admitted in a high, piping voice.

"Listen," Cecil suggested, trying not to show too much pity for this pathetic soul, "why don't you go get something to drink?"

Bob tottered off, and Cecil found himself again wishing for Kain's presence and assistance. These interns were really getting on his nerves.

Leaning over the railing to check out the site, he saw that it was, indeed, deserted. Sighing and grabbing the Crystal Shield, he got off the Rapier with a few other crewmen to see what he might find.

The piles of ash lying everywhere did not escape his attention, but he could make out no useful information from them. There didn't appear to have been any form of fire that could have created the ash, though, so its presence was disturbing.

A cursory glance told him that the tents and their contents were undisturbed, except for some more small piles of ash inside some. By now, a suspicion was forming in Cecil's mind, but he voiced nothing to the soldiers who accompanied him, not wanting to alarm them needlessly.

Everything was undisturbed. If the camp had been evacuated, it had been in such a rush that nothing had been taken. Food was in cupboards, clothes in chests, weapons and various other items sitting around.

Cecil's suspicion was solidifying as he found an Elixir sitting in a vat of oatmeal. Something very dark had transpired here.

"Let's check out the Library," he told his companions, who nodded and followed him out.

At first, nothing seemed out of place at the site, except for more piles of the strange ash. Cecil was almost ready to begin organizing search parties through the surrounding forests, but his thought were interrupted by the warning of one of his crewmen.

"King Cecil!!" came the frantic shout.

Rushing over to see what had upset the man, even Cecil was somewhat shaken by the sight of the yellowed, crumbling, skeletal hand sticking out of a pile of ash.

His suspicions were confirmed.

"Get back on the Rapier!" he yelled. "We've gotta get out of here before it's too late!"

"It is too late, Cecil!" came the shout of a familiar voice.

Turning, Cecil barely had time to reflexively raise the Crystal Shield as Veronica shrieked out a torrent of strange words, and all around him, he heard the screams of men as they crumbled into small piles of ash . . .

"I'm wondering what Asura's going to have to say to us when all this is over," Edge said in an attempt to be conversational as they searched through the forest on a path to Mysidia.

"No you're not," Cid retorted, looking right through the Ninja. "You're wondering if Rydia's all right, and if you'll be able to win her heart with some daring rescue."

"So?!" Edge snapped. "What's your point?!?!"

Cid chuckled, enjoying his companion's flusterment.

"Don't laugh at me!!" the Ninja spat. "It's not very funny!!!!!"

"Sure it is, and you'd realize that if you'd get your head out of the clouds and take a look around sometime!" Cid replied.

Before Edge could come up with a fitting insult with which to lash out at the burly engineer, the air crackled around them with yet another flash of black lightning.

Yang and Rosa had been watching over the railing of the Enterprise, and cried out in surprise as the black lightning filled the air, causing the pilot to jerk sideways dangerously in surprise of his own. Fortunately, no one fell off the airship, although Rosa had a feeling she was going to grant the pilot a few choice words later on.

"Why does that keep happening?!" she exclaimed as the airship was righted and she regained her footing.

"I couldn't say," Yang replied, "except to say that there appears to be a very sinister force at work."

Kain and Rydia winced simultaneously as the black lightning filled the atmosphere. They knew what the source was.

"I wonder what she's done now," Kain mumbled.

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," Rydia sighed.

Mysidia was now in their view. They should reach it within the hour, and soon would find out what was what.

Cecil blinked in shock and lowered the Crystal Shield enough to peer over the top and lock eyes with Veronica.

She took one look at him and frantically began searching through the book she'd been carrying under one arm. He wasn't about to wait for her to find whatever she was looking for.

Unbidden, his feet took him flying from the scene, some inner instinct telling him that he couldn't stand against her a second time and live. Somehow, the Crystal Shield seemed to have protected him from her magical onslaught, although everyone around him had crumbled into dust. Something also told him that to reach the Rapier would be useless - they'd been destroyed as well, and one person couldn't fly an airship.

And so he ran.

Veronica, frustrated and angry, watched him go.

It didn't work! How could it not work?! How could he still be alive?!?!

She wasn't sure what could have preserved him against her powers, but knew that he was now likely out to seek assistance - and there was still someone out there with the power to thwart her.

The Caller had to be eliminated, now.

As the Enterprise closed in on Mysidia, Yang pointed something out to Rosa.

"Look," he said, gesturing to the surface below. "Do you think that's - "

"Yes, it is!" she exclaimed. "Pilot! Bring us down!"

On the ground below, Kain and Rydia stood and waited as the great airship landed beside them.

Rosa all but flew off the Enterprise and rushed over to them.

"Rydia, are you - oh my gosh! Kain! What are you - I mean - how - oh, heck with it all."

The Queen threw her arms first around the Caller, then the Dragoon, before stepping back with a prim expression as Yang walked up beside her.

"Before you even start yelling at me," Rydia blurted out, "we've got to tell you about the manifested evil that's out to conquer the world!"

"What?!" exclaimed both Yang and Rosa.

Before anyone could begin to explain anything, another bolt of black lightning shattered the sky, and Veronica appeared, grabbing Rydia from behind and holding her sword to the Caller's throat.

"Nobody move!!!" she hissed.

Nobody moved. Rosa and Yang froze, expressions of shock and utter confusion covering their faces, Kain displaying a coldness foreign to his usually lively features.

"Veronica," he said in a flat voice, "let Rydia go. She's done you no harm."

"But she will!" insisted the woman, a fierce and almost insane look creeping into her eyes. "Unless I eliminate her first!"

Rydia said nothing, trying to catch a glimpse of the blade at her throat without moving her head down.

The three watched, helpless, as Veronica smiled wickedly and voiced the words that would take them both away in a bolt of black lightning.

For a long moment after, the three of them remained frozen. Then Rosa slowly shook herself out of it.

"Kain . . . what's going on?"

His eyes flitted back and forth nervously.

"I need to talk to Cecil."

4)---------- In Which, manifested evil makes a discovery.

They flew over the forests aboard the Enterprise, keeping an eye out for Cid and Edge. When the two were spied trompsing through the forest, they lowered the hook Cid had now attached to both airships and allowed them to climb onto it. Then, after the hook had been retracted and the five of them stood on the deck together, Kain explained everything that had happened from the point where Rydia had washed up on the beach. They listened silently until he was finished relating the tale, and then Rosa pointed out,

"Cecil's at the site for the Great Library. We could hunt him down, but it could take a little time. Maybe our first stop should be Mist."

"In case someone there might know a little more about this Borthus guy than Rydia?" Edge clarified. "Good call. We'll head there in the Falcon. You guys go on to Baron and see if anything's happened there. For all we know, it may have been a false alarm, and Cecil's there right now waiting for us."

"The Great Library?" Kain inquired.

"Oh, I keep forgetting how long you've been gone," Rosa admonished herself. "It's a building project. When completed, it will hold all the records and books from every city and country. It's all part of Anna-mathe's cheesy setup for Final Fantasy V, which will never be released in America."

A thought occurred to Kain.

"That may be how Veronica got possession of that book," he suggested. "If it had been imported there - "

"And Veronica was in charge of overseeing construction," Rosa joined in, seeing what he was getting at.

"So all this means she's probably using the site for the Great Library as a base?" Yang summarized. "Because if that's so - "

A look of horror crossed Rosa's face.

"Cecil's there now, trying to figure out why everybody disappeared! If he runs into Veronica - "

"Mist can wait," Edge pronounced. "We've gotta find him - assuming there's something left to find."

Veronica had more sense than to return to the Great Library. Instead, she now moved her headquarters to the abandoned ruin of an old village temple - probably destroyed in some war hundreds of years ago and never rebuilt.

"Holding still would be in your best interests," she curtly informed the squirming Caller as she fastened her to a stone pillar. Stepping back to glare her in the eye, she wondered exactly what there was about this girl that was so dangerous. She might have dangerous knowledge, she supposed, but knowledge alone couldn't defeat her now.

Rydia met her icy glare.

"You realize, of course, that you won't get away with this?" she curtly inquired.

"Oh, come on!" Veronica jibed. "Can't you come up with something more original than that for a threat?"

"I'm not wasting my breath!" the Caller snapped.

Veronica smacked her smartly across the face, avenging the wound on her own face dealt by the Caller the day before.

"Watch your mouth! I'm not sure why I'm keeping you alive as it is!" she threatened.

A tingle ran through her fingers. Startled, she looked first at her hand, then at her prisoner. Something was wrong with this setup. It was if she was being directed away from the Caller.

Could it be possible that . . .

She didn't let her brain complete that thought. Instead, she walked to the other end of the ruin, looking our through one of the shattered walls, thinking.

A warning tingle touched the back of her mind, and she spun to find the Caller whispering in a barely audible voice the words that would set her free.

"None of that!!" Veronica snarled, knocking Rydia in the face with enough force to snap her jaw. As she watched, the Caller winced and shut her eyes against the pain, but had to stop chanting, now unable to form her words. "You'll not Summon any of your monster friends here, little one!"

The feeling was still etched in her that something was wrong. Finally, deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, she again spoke the spell that would bring her before her most dangerous enemies, knowing that if all was well, her enemy was already before her and she wouldn't move.

She was wrong, and she vanished in a bolt of black lightning.

Kain, Rosa, and Yang stood on the deck of the Enterprise, not saying much, and worrying. About Rydia. About Cecil. About the planet.

The forest shot by beneath them. There was no sign of the Rapier, or of Cecil, or that either had ever been there. The afternoon was growing late, and in a few more hours, they would have to halt the search until tomorrow. That was an option they didn't want to face.

Their silent reflections were shattered with the sky as another bolt of black lightning lit the slowly darkening sky in the way that only black lightning can light. Veronica appeared before them, staring with astonishment written all over her face.

"You . . . ?!" she cried at Kain, then turned and threw herself over the side of the airship.

"Oh my - "

The three ran to the edge and leaned over, only to see her vanish in another flash of black lightning on the way down.

Rosa straightened up and shook her head.

"What was that all about?"

Yang straightened up beside her.

"I wouldn't know. But she didn't seem very happy to see you, Kain."

Kain remained leaning over the railing of the Enterprise.

"No, she wouldn't be. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that was all about, though." He sighed and kept watching for some sign of Cecil. It was hard to say, though, with all the thick forest, if they would even see him from their altitude if he were down there.

Unfortunately, this happened to be the case.

Cecil stood, hidden by the trees around him, and watched as the airship flew past above him. He knew there was no way he could get their attention, and just hoped that they wouldn't go to the Great Library and meet a fate like the others had. There was nothing he could do except keep walking. He would reach Baron by sundown.

Rydia watched impassively as Veronica stormed back and forth.

"It was him all along!!!" she hissed at herself. "And here I thought - I was sure it was you - " and she delivered another sharp blow to Rydia's already-painridden head, " - only to find out that all along, the only person who stands in my way is my own brother!!" Then she stopped. "Half brother," she corrected.

The Caller allowed her eyes to close.

Asura, even if you kill me, I wish you'd show up about now.

When her captor had vanished on some new business that brought her back in such a fury, she had tried once again to call the Queen of Summoned Monsters, only to find that at the rate her shattered jawbone was swelling, there was no way she could form the words to summon her.

The chains fastening her to the pillar were very tight, and she could feel the flow of blood to her hands and legs slowly slacking off. Veronica didn't appear to have any form of sympathy for the Caller in her captivity - rather was using her as an outlet for her frustrations. In spite of it all, though, Rydia couldn't help but wonder why the blue haired woman hadn't killed her instantly, or indeed, why she was keeping her alive now. It didn't make any sense to her.

Sleep crept up to the young Caller, but she wasn't sure it was a wise idea. The fear lingered that if she fell asleep, she might never wake up. But if it was true, and it was Kain, not herself, who stood in Veronica's way, then there was still a chance for the world to be saved, and just maybe, if it wasn't asking too much, for herself to be saved as well.

5)---------- In Which, an old man is helpful.

During the afternoon, the Enterprise had reached the Great Library, but found nothing but the abandoned Rapier and some piles of ash. Some of the crew had boarded the Redwing to pilot it home, and now the Enterprise was continuing its search for the missing King of Baron.

The sun had been below the horizon for half an hour, and full darkness was almost over the land. Rosa and Kain remained glued to the railing of the Enterprise, and Yang knew it was up to him to convince them to end the search for the day.

"Rosa, Kain," he said, softly, "we can't keep searching any longer. It's too dark."

The two exchanged a look, both knowing Yang was right, but not really thrilled to admit it. Finally, Rosa sighed.

"You're right. Turn us back to Baron."

Yang nodded and left the pair of them alone.

"Now we have to find them both," Rosa murmured as the Enterprise slowed to make its turn. "But Rydia may have already been dead if you hadn't found her, Kain."

"For all the good it does her now," he replied with a sour smirk. "Veronica's one tough chick. If she's got it in her head to make Rydia miserable, then she'd probably be happier off dead."

Rosa blinked.

"I can't believe you just said that!"

Kain smacked his face.

"Neither can I!" He shook his head vigorously as if to clear his senses, then turned to the Queen. "That's it. I think my sanity is on a short time limit. We've gotta find Cecil and Rydia and save the planet soon, before I permanently lose my mind."

A flash of black lightning shot through the air.

"Pull yourself together, Kain!" Rosa snapped. "I need you, and you're no good to me while busy pondering your own sanity! You're completely insane, you always have been! Why else would you have left like that in the first place?! Now it's up to the few of us to save the world, and we've got to do it fast, before I permanently lose my mind!!!"

"Calm down, Rosa," Kain instructed in a low voice. "Established - we're both way too stressed out. But we should be used to it by now."

Rosa considered that and took a deep breath.

"Okay. We're calm now. What do we do?"

"Figure out what was up with that last bolt of black lightning. Then - "

He was cut off with the sudden and very fast arrival of the Rapier. It froze in place beside them, and they did likewise. The captain leaned over the railing to shout to Rosa and Kain -

"The Village Mist was struck by the black lightning! It's been completely obliterated!"

After shooting off the signal flares to get the Falcon's attention, the two airships, Enterprise and Rapier set off for Baron with the third followed a few minutes behind them.

When they disembarked and entered the castle, reports confirmed it: there were only a few smoldering ruins remaining of the village.

"Veronica's very thorough," Kain observed. "She must see every Caller as a threat, and so she wiped out all the others."

"So there's no one who can give us any more information than we already know - like how to free Veronica from Borthus' power, and then how to destroy him," Rosa grimly concluded.

"First things first," Edge reminded them. "We still have to find Rydia - and Cecil."

"If you all would get your heads out of the clouds for a little bit," interrupted a voice that made them all turn. The doors to the throne room had been left ajar, and were now pushed open enough to permit the entrance of a slightly dusty-looking Cecil and a freaky-looking old guy. "You might see a little bit more."

Rosa let out an indecipherable shriek and tossed herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and clinging to him like he was going to vanish unless she held him there by pure will.

"Woah - ah - Rosa - you're choking me - "

She stepped back, holding onto his arms.

"We were afraid Veronica got you with her black lightning," she simply stated.

Cecil scratched his head in befuddlement.

"She almost did. On my way back here, I ran into Fred, here." He gestured to the old coot who had entered with him, who gave them all a toothless grin.

Rosa suppressed a wide-eyed shudder.

"Fred . . . what an odd name."

"That's what I thought - but he claims to know something about the black lightning."

"How could he?"

"He says he's a Caller."

"A Caller?!" Kain exclaimed, stepping forward and earning an openmouthed look of complete astonishment as Cecil noted his return for the first time. "He must be the last one on the planet - except for Rydia."

"Huh?" Poor Cecil looked completely out of his element. "Euh . . . why don't you guys explain what you found out first?"

So Kain explained to him how he'd found Rydia the day before, about their first encounter with Veronica, and the information Rydia had given him before being captured. Finally, the tale came to where the black lightning had destroyed the Village Mist, leaving only a few charred fragments behind.

Cecil told them about the builders being turned into small piles of ash, and Rosa suddenly thought she was going to be sick.

"I told the new crew of the Rapier to just sweep it out," she admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, @#$%!!!!!" Cid bellowed, charging out of the room to take command of his subordinates.

For a long silent moment, the others watched where he'd disappeared, wondering what sort of calamity would occur next.

Edge broke the silence.

"So what can you tell us . . . Fred?" he asked the old man.

"The reason King Cecil survived Veronica's attack is not by chance," he croaked. "The Crystal weapons he brought from the moon have some immunity to the powers of Borthus. When his evil essence was first riiiiiiipped from his body" and he inserted a sickening sound effect "it was with the power of the Crystals now residing on the Moon. When the Lunarians first arrived at our world, they recognized the Crystals similar to an element native to their homeworld, and used them to forge their weapons: the ones wielded by King Cecil, King Edge, and Kain, the Dragoooooooooon."

Kain was not liking this old man named Fred. The question as to why he hadn't been living in the Village Mist with the other Callers had resolved itself - he was too annoying to live near other people. But his twisted monologue was making sense.

"So Borthus," and the man's lack of teeth caused him to lisp very moistly on his S's, "was found to have a weakness to the Crystals, both light and dark, because they tend to interact with the soul, and Borthus didn't have a soul!"

The others had been watching this old man with a morbid fascination. Yang shook himself out of his daze enough to ask:

"How could he not have a soul?"

"Because he sold it to a dwarf in exchange for his sword, the Valdiar! That's why whoever holds his essence also holds his sword!" Fred now tottered toward the door and came back. "Okay, I told you all I know. Now someone give me something to eat!"

A servant quickly entered the room and shooed him off, much to the relief of the five who remained in the room.

Veronica paced back and forth nervously. The warning barrier was in place, so there was no fear of intrusion, but she could not rest. Her trail of dark blue, almost black hair trailed behind her, making it seem almost as if she were a tall dark cloud. A cloud with two deep red eyes.

Rydia looked on silently, wishing Veronica would forget about her. If only she could speak, whether to Call for help or even just cast some form of spell to keep this demon at bay . . . but it was no use even wishing for that. Her mouth was utterly useless. So she just hung there, watching the older woman pace and obsess.

It was still almost above her how this woman could be Kain's sister.

Half sister, she reminded herself. They were both tall and slender, and both had those deep red eyes, but the likeness ended there. Veronica's face was one that showed signs of few smiles, her eyes lacked any spark of laughter. Her skin was fair, very fair, and looked more so against her sleek dark hair which hung down past her waist. That there could be any relation to the blond, sarcastic Dragoon she called a friend was almost laughable.

Except for those eyes. Those eyes which, when turned on her now, seemed to flash black lightning within them.

"I still don't know why I'm keeping you alive," Veronica informed the Caller. "Except maybe so I have something to take my frustrations out on other than the walls. Your home, the Village Mist, has been eliminated. Anyone else of your kind who may have something to use against me is now conveniently out of the way." As Veronica watched, Rydia's expression remained carefully indifferent. "What's wrong? Don't you care that any remaining family or friends left alive by my brother - half brother - are now as dead as those he burned? No, of course not. You reside in the Land of Summoned Monsters. Now there's a crew that may cause me some trouble. I'm going to have to see to it that they're kept trapped down there. Can't have them interfering with my plans." Rydia stared blankly ahead, determined not to show reaction to anything this woman said. "Now, though, all I have to do is eliminate Kain before he causes any trouble." That said, she gave Rydia a warm smile and stroked her grimy hair before leaving the room, and leaving her alone.

Rydia shuddered at her touch. She was mocking her, mocking her in the worst ways. Killing her people, threatening her friends, beating her to a pulp, and then affecting compassion. If only she could, she would have that witch thrown to the dogs and left to rot.

Then she sighed. She really couldn't fault Veronica for what she was doing to her under the control of Borthus. It was Borthus she had to save that anger for. Veronica was an innocent who happened to pick up the wrong book.

It was finally making sense to her why it was so hard for Cecil to admit forgiveness to Golbez. Throughout all the battles and the war, he'd blamed everything on him, saving all his anger and fury for him alone. The pain that had been done to him then was similar to what was being done to her now, only while she was being tortured in the body, he'd been tortured in the heart as Rosa was taken from him and Kain was turned against him again and again. When it finally came out that Golbez had had no control over what had happened, that he'd been a puppet all along, it was just so very hard to reroute all that anger. All that hatred.

No matter what Veronica did to her, she had to remember who was really behind it, or she may find herself hating the wrong person.

Regardless of whose fault it was, though, at that moment it was becoming harder and harder to think of anything other than the steady pain that was engulfing her more as each second passed.

She wasn't sure how much longer she was going to last like this.

6)---------- In Which, Kain does something necessary.

It had to be past midnight. He was tired . . . but couldn't seem to sleep.

Kain stood there, leaning over the edge of one of the towers in the Castle Baron, not really thinking about anything, and not really wanting to. He should feel at home here. He'd lived in the Kingdom of Baron all of his life, in the Castle for over ten years, ever since he was first taken on as an apprentice when he was young.

So why did it seem so strange to be back? Lying in his own bed had freaked him out so much he had to get out, had to get away from all the "familiar" things, and think.

And here he was, looking out over the land he knew like the back of his hand, thinking about absolutely nothing.

"Couldn't sleep?" drifted a soft voice.

Kain closed his eyes. He didn't need to turn to see who had just joined him on the tower.

"No," he replied simply.

Cecil joined him leaning against the edge, looking out over the Kingdom below.

"Some place you got here, your majesty," Kain quipped with a fragment of his old sarcasm. "How's the rent?"

"Oh, it's tolerable," Cecil lightly replied.

For a long time, they stood there, just watching the silent streets below. Kain hadn't realized how much he had dreaded facing Cecil again, and couldn't come up with anyway to strike up a conversation. So he just stood there, remembering, and wishing.

"What made you come back?" Cecil finally asked after the period of silence had gotten stale.

Kain sighed, his hair tickling his face in a sudden breeze. It had really been too long since he'd had it cut . . .

But Cecil was waiting for an answer.

"Well, I couldn't let you face off against a manifested evil all by yourself," he replied. "Thought you might like some help."

"Yes, I'm sure your presence will mean a lot if it comes down to fighting this thing. But tell me, if Borthus hadn't manifested, would you have still come back?"

Kain smiled lightly.

"Someday."

"When?"

"Soon. I guess."

Cecil turned to face Kain in a steady and frustrated look.

"Kain, we've been best friends for as long as I can remember. Why can't you tell me what's been bothering you?"

The Dragoon shrugged self-consciously.

"Golbez dealt with it by going into a long "sleep" with the rest of your people. I deal with it by roaming the forests."

"Deal with what?"

"With . . . with . . . " he fidgeted uncomfortably. "Listen, can we talk about something else?"

"No. With what?" Cecil was persistent, realizing all too well that Kain would keep running from this forever unless he faced it soon.

"With - " he turned to glare at Cecil, and winced. Then he smacked his forehead and leaned back over the edge of the tower, "with the fact that I still can't look into your face without wincing!!!!"

"Why not?!" Cecil demanded. "Look, Kain, some really bad stuff happened, to put it in the mildest possible way, but you can't let it keep eating you like this or there'll be nothing left of you! I could bring myself to forgive Golbez - you have to bring yourself to forgive yourself."

"I'm still not entirely sure I should!" Kain exclaimed.

"Will you forgive Veronica when all this is over?" Cecil inquired in a quiet voice, knowing that the question would hurt him.

He was right.

Kain just sort of stared at him.

"And will you want her to be able to forgive herself? Or do you want her to go around shunning everyone who cares about her, too overcome with guilt and fear to realize that it's not her fault?"

Kain turned and bolted, leaving Cecil standing at the tower alone. He let him go, realizing that although the Dragoon had returned physically, his mind and heart were still on a quest for realization. And as much as he and the others might prompt, Kain would have to find his answers for himself.

It began to rain.

Rydia was jolted painfully out of an uneasy sleep by the feeling of raindrops as they fell through a gap in the roof and splashed over her head. At first, the feeling was most welcome - she hadn't had anything to drink since early the day before and had lost a lot of fluids in sweat and tears during her short captivity with its brief but numerous torture sessions, and the cool rainwater was quickly absorbed by her parched skin.

Soon, though, the cold rain came to dampen her spirits as well as her body. It was dark and mournful all around her, and she couldn't help but feel incredibly lonely there, tied to a stone pillar during the summer storm. She longed for companionship more than anything else, even that of the spastic psycho-demon who was holding her hostage. Anything was better than hanging there, all alone, feeling sorry for herself.

Can anyone hear me? she thought helplessly. Someone please get me out of here.

Chocobo paced in uneasy circles in the Castle Lobby. He'd never seen rain before, and wasn't sure he liked it. He also didn't like waiting here. He'd been waiting all day, now he was waiting all night. Hopefully, there would be some form of action taken today. Something to set free his charge so he could take her home as planned and let Queen Asura heal whatever ailments she may have obtained during her captivity. Then they could all go back to normal life.

As if there was such a thing.

This matter of the manifested evil - he didn't want to think about it. Being a summoned monster, he knew a bit about Borthus which he didn't feel was his place to disclose, but he knew that if Cecil found out his involvement with the creature, he'd be hung out to dry until he talked. So he just wanted to get back home, and let Leviathan and Asura deal with the political aspects.

Still, he knew he couldn't return until he had Rydia back in his care. Asura would kill him if he came home without her.

Sighing, he settled down in a warm corner and tried to sleep through the storm.

Kain wandered in adrenalized circles in his room, his mind burning at the rate of his spinning thoughts.

Cecil was right. Rydia was right. They were all right - he had to get over this and move on. He just wasn't sure why he couldn't. Something seemed to be holding him in a thick blanket of, of fear and guilt, just as Cecil had said.

But he had to break out of it now. He had to come back. He had to save Veronica.

And he had to save Rydia.

Yet somehow he knew that in order to do one, he would have to forfeit the other, and one of them wasn't going to come out of this.

So then what? Chalk up another failure on his board? He could hardly reassume his position after so many. Maybe that's what was holding him back. Maybe it wasn't. But that didn't matter.

He swatted the thought away. It didn't matter. What he thought of himself wasn't important here - saving Rydia and Veronica was.

Forcing his mind clear, the Dragoon finally managed to get some sleep.

The next morning remained overcast and damp, with scattered rainfall darkening the horizons. Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Cid, Edge, Yang, and Chocobo gathered to plan for the day.

"Where might she have gone?" was what Cecil wanted to know. "I mean, Veronica could hardly be holding her in downtown Eblan. Where could they be that's isolated enough for her to feel safe?"

"I've been thinking about that," Cid replied. "Back when she worked for me, she showed quite an interest in a small ruin on one of the islands to the south. It's plenty isolated - you wouldn't find it unless you knew it was there. She may have gone there."

"Okay," Edge said. "We think we know where they are. Now what? We can hardly go barging in and say hi, would you kindly set our friend free? I think not! Not after she's already obliterated so many people!"

"So we get Veronica out of the way, and then go after Rydia," Kain cooly suggested.

"And how are we supposed to do that?!" Edge fired back.

"Leave that to me," he simply replied. "I'll get Veronica away. You guys just be ready to go after Rydia the moment she leaves."

"Just what are you planning to do, Kain?" Rosa inquired in a tone colored with concern.

He shrugged indifferently.

"What must be done."

"Fine," Cecil agreed, earning alarmed looks from the others, who couldn't believe he was going to let Kain go up against Veronica alone. "But I'm going with you."

Kain took a deep, calming breath.

"No, Cecil, you don't have to - "

"Yes I do," Cecil informed the room in his most regal voice.

There was no arguing with Cecil at his best.

Rydia was in a very stormy mood, reflecting the overcast skies, probably. She was stiff, sore, broken, and bleeding, as well as wet, dirty, hungry and cold. Not to mention angry, sad, scared, and humiliated. So she did what any other stubborn and headstrong hostage would do in this situation.

She began humming the first tune that came to mind, a cute little tune, a song all parents sang to their children when they were little and couldn't sleep. And a song that, for some reason, everyone grew to hate as they got older.

At first her voice didn't want to work right, because a chest cold had set in during the rainstorm the night before, but after clearing her throat a few times, she could get the notes out easily.

Veronica had been sitting in one of the dry sections of the room, which was actually the remains of the steeple on top of the ruin, flipping through her book. At first, she paid no attention to the song of the Caller, but suddenly, after about three or four minutes of steady humming, she snapped her head up.

"Mary's Moogle!" she exclaimed in horror. "I despise that song!"

Rydia would have laughed, but then she would have had to stop humming. So she gave a contorted grin and continued with her song. Even as the sun had risen that morning, hidden by the thick cloud cover, she had felt her life force begin to give way, and knew that unless something major changed soon, she was on her way out. The thought didn't disturb her as much as she thought it would, though, as long as she knew she was going out while giving Borthus' incarnation heck.

She hummed even louder.

A sudden fury engulfed her captor. Veronica slammed the book shut and laid it heavily on the floor, where it pulsated angrily with a red glow. Neither woman noticed.

"Stop humming that song!!" Veronica snapped, stalking up to Rydia, who closed her eyes and continued her musical rebellion. "I said, stop humming that SONG!!!!" she bellowed. When the Caller made no reply except to keep humming the dreaded Mary's Moogle, Veronica grabbed a heavy pillar of wood that had fallen from the broken ceiling above. "Stop it, or I'll smash your legs to pieces!!!!"

Rydia considered that, and continued humming anyway, louder than ever. It was strange - she could hear Veronica smashing the piece of wood against her, could actually hear her own bones snapping, but didn't feel anything. The circulation had stopped to her legs, and she had no feeling in them anyway. She continued humming as if nothing had happened.

Just gotta keep humming no matter what -

A sudden pain rocked her then. It seemed as if Veronica would break every bone in her body if that was what it took to shut her up. As she felt her ribs cave in, Rydia suddenly felt awareness leaving her, being replaced with a comfortable lack of . . . everything.

Gotta . . . keep . . . humming . . . . . .

Veronica took many deep breaths to calm her nerves as the Caller lost consciousness and ceased humming. She shouldn't have lost her temper like that. It showed a lack of control, and was inefficient. Stepping away from the Caller, she picked up her book and brushed off the dust that had accumulated when she'd dropped it. The cover was warm to the touch.

She was going to return to her reading, when a tingle told her that someone was closing in on her hideout. Alarmed, she looked up to see an airship shoot past above, dropping a rolled-up piece of paper attached to a rock. The message landed at her feet, and as the airship cleared her territory and moved on away, she picked it up and read it silently to herself.

Upon reaching the end, her eyes widened in fury and she tore the note to pieces, casting the spell that would bring her to Kain. He was going to pay!

Cecil watched the black lightning fill the air.

"What did you write in that thing?" he asked Kain, who shrugged with an amused smirk.

"Oh . . . nothing."

The black lightning then crashed before them, leaving Veronica standing there, the book in one hand, the Valdiar in the other, her very aura crackling with anger and the black magic she was using.

"Nothing?" Cecil inquired, disturbed by the sight of her. No matter what Fred may have said, it didn't look like even their Crystal Weapons were going to even scratch her.

"Inside thing," Kain replied evenly, glaring straight at Veronica. "Right, Sister?"

Veronica began to cast one of her spells, but before she could complete it, Kain jumped forward, knocking her to the ground, and the wind from her body.

"Why not try that again?" he suggested. "I think we missed that last part!" Then he clamped one hand firmly over her mouth. "As long as she can't invoke Borthus' spells, she shouldn't be able to do any harm," he speculated.

Cecil saw the logic in that, and Veronica's eyes flashed angrily.

Kain tried to remove the book from her grasp, but she was being particularly stubborn, and he found that he couldn't get it with one hand.

"Cecil, would you get the book?"

"Sure."

But the moment he touched it's cover, black lightning crackled, sending them both shooting back about a hundred feet.

"Ow," Kain muttered, quickly climbing back to his feet.

Veronica was in the middle of a very rapid chant, and was almost completed as they closed in on her.

"Dang! Get down!" Cecil yelped as the black lightning crackled all around them. Both of them quickly ducking behind their shields, they continued to advance toward her. She immediately began chanting again, trying something more potent, no doubt. Borthus had been thwarted once before, and knew what to expect this time.

Rather than let herself get winded this time, though, the moment one of them grew near, she lashed forward with the Valdiar, immediately clashing against the Crystal Sword.

Cecil could keep her fighting, but couldn't quite disarm her. And he couldn't make her stop her chanting. So he kept her occupied as Kain swept behind her without her noticing. Her incantation was almost complete, when again her brother - half brother - knocked her to the ground, covering her mouth.

"Okay, so she keeps the book. What do we do?" he asked Cecil.

"Knock her out and find a way to keep her mouth shut," he replied.

Inwardly wincing at the idea, Kain knew he was right. Before he could act on it, though, the book burst into flames.

Cecil watched in shock as the ball of fire engulfed Veronica and Kain, sizzling black around the edges before imploding upon itself, disappearing completely, along with Veronica. Kain plopped weakly on the ground, panting.

Rushing over to him, Cecil asked if he was all right. He didn't respond - just stared out into space.

"Kain?!" He shook him sharply, and the Dragoon squeezed his eyes tight a few times and shook his head.

"Cecil?" he asked in a befuddled voice. "Um - a . . . am I still alive? But I thought . . . " and he trailed off and went back staring into space.

Hauling him to his feet, Cecil dragged the dazed Dragoon off to where Chocobo was waiting for them, and they went back to Baron, hoping that the others had had enough time to save Rydia.

Figuring that a smaller group was best for breaking into the ruin and bailing out Rydia, Edge and Rosa went in alone, leaving the others waiting in the Falcon. Rosa, because she had the Exit spell, and Edge, because he still had his heart set on a daring rescue. So while the airship hovered nearby, ready to pick them up, the pair of them entered the remains of the temple, being the only building still partially standing.

"What a dump," he observed, looking over the collapsing ruin.

"Shsh!!!" Rosa admonished sharply. "Just keep looking! She must be around somewhere!"

Now, Edge had expected to find Rydia stashed in some corner, a little banged up, scared, and waiting for a daring rescue. He really couldn't help himself - that's the way he thought. But his delusions of sweeping her off her feet and carrying her home with her undying gratitude were instantly shattered when he pushed open the dilapidated door to the steeple.

She just hung there, limply, covered in her own dried blood and dark bruises, her skin a deathly pale white. The thought suddenly occurred to him that she might be -

Even as Rosa peeked through the door around him, he found himself across the room and at her side, taking one swipe with each the Murasame and Masamune, setting her free from the chains which held her, letting her collapse into his frantic grasp.

"Rydia, Rydia, don't be dead, don't be dead - " he chanted frantically, unable to comprehend without his mind blanking. She made no response, and he feared the worst -

"Oh my God!" Rosa exclaimed, arriving by their side, and instantly chanting the Exit spell.

They vanished and appeared on the Falcon. Edge had no time to consider how she could have transported them on board the airship, though. He was instead lashing out at Cid to get the airship moving - get them back to Baron as fast as they could possibly fly. Then he looked back to Rydia, whose cold, stiff body he still held tightly in his arms.

Rosa was casting the most potent curing spells she knew. A cursory glance told her that the Caller was in serious condition, very serious, and she had little or no hope that she'd be able to fix her legs, which were contorted at odd angles, or even her hands which had been without blood circulation for too long. Still, now she was just trying to bring some bit of life back into her.

Asura could do more.

Yang joined them, kneeling silently beside Edge, who clung gently to the little green-haired body. Cid couldn't, he was flying the airship, but he and the other crewmembers remained deadly silent, listening to every word spoken.

Holding the back of his hand near Rydia's face for a moment, Yang shot a concerned look to Edge.

"Her breathing is so faint," he murmured quietly, so as not to disturb Rosa's chanting.

Edge nodded curtly, chewing his bottom lip, his face showing a helpless concern that was actually quite becoming to him.

Rosa finally stopped, her MP drained. Sighing and settling back a bit in exhaustion, she shook her head at the other two.

"I don't know," she answered to their unspoken question. "She's not responding to anything I do. I'd say we should take her to Asura, but I'm frankly not sure if she'd survive the trip."

"Then let's just get back to Baron and hope for the best," Yang advised in a solemn tone.

Rosa nodded.

"I don't see what else we could do."

"We're landing now," Cid informed them.

7)---------- In Which, Bahamut "bends" the rules.

Somewhere during the short yet bumpy trip back to Baron, Kain got some of his sense knocked back into him.

"Feeling better?" Cecil inquired as they dismounted Chocobo and moved to enter the Castle.

Kain nodded.

"Yeah. Not sure what came over me." He shook his head with a very strange expression. "That was, without a doubt, the strangest thing that's ever happened to me."

Cecil arched an eyebrow.

"Really."

"Oh yeah, without a doubt."

"Care to talk about it?"

Kain regarded him, still looking a little dazed.

"Sure. Maybe someone else can make a little more sense out of that than I can."

The willing response surprised Cecil, having grown accustomed to the Dragoon's recent habits of reticence. It was a welcome change.

"King Cecil!" exclaimed one of the gatemen, catching sight of them. "Queen Rosa and the others returned a short while ago with Rydia. She's in very bad shape!"

Not even sparing a moment to exchange a worried glance, Cecil and Kain bolted into the Castle.

Kain had joined the others at Rydia's bedside vigil as Rosa pulled Cecil aside.

"Cecil, there's nothing I can do," she whispered. "I'm the most powerful White Wizard on the Earth, but she's not responding to any of my spells. I don't think she'll make it through the night."

Shooting a glance out the window, Cecil noted that it was early afternoon.

"What can we do?" he asked desperately. "Isn't there something someone can do for her?"

Rosa leaned in close so the others wouldn't overhear.

"The only one who could do a thing for her, if anyone, is Queen Asura."

"But she's in the Land of Summoned Monsters," Cecil protested. "Should we chance bringing her there?"

"No, she wouldn't make it. She's hanging by the thread as it is."

"But we can't Call Asura ourselves!" he pointed out again, voicing the complication that swirled in both of their heads.

"I know that. Now, I wanted you to know, but don't let on to the others - I'm going to talk to Chocobo. Where is he?"

"He's still outside. Oh, I totally forgot to even tell him - "

"Leave that to me. Now I want you to stay here, Cecil. You know some white magic, and you're better with a Cure than any of the village healers. Keep trying. That's all I can say. Keep trying, and I'll see if Chocobo can't find a loophole that can bring Asura to us."

She then brushed past him, heading for the pasture where Chocobo was likely to be nibbling on some form of grass or plant, and Cecil gritted his teeth and approached the silent circle around the Caller.

When he'd last seen her, at the wedding ceremony, she'd been so vibrant and lively - generously giving out her bright smile and making Edge giddy. Now, even with her wounds cleaned, she looked like a different person. Like someone old, who had known nothing but pain in her entire life.

Taking one of her stiff and bloodless hands in his own, he began his healing incantations.

Chocobo was almost settling in to a comfortable sleep when Rosa stormed up behind him.

"Wake up, Chocobo," she commanded in a stern voice, startling him and almost giving him whiplash as he snapped his head up to regard her.

"Wha - "

"Don't ask. Chocobo, Rydia's dying. As we speak, she's dying, and the only one who can save her is Queen Asura. A Summoned Monster can't leave your realm unless Called, so how can we get her here?"

Chocobo allowed himself only a brief moment of shock before quickly supplying the name.

"Bahamut."

Rosa frowned, not expecting that.

"Bahamut? What's he got to do with - "

"He's the High King of all Summoned Monsters. If anyone can bend the rules, he can, because he's the one who set them!"

"But he lives on the Moon - the second Moon, which left our orbit after the day of the coronation and wedding! We can't search outer space!! It's - it's just impossible! And we don't have enough time anyway - "

Chocobo shook his head and grinned wryly.

"Powerful as he is, he's still a Summoned Monster, and Summoned Monsters are indigenous to Earth. Besides, he wouldn't go so far from his empire."

"But if he didn't leave, then where is he?"

"Try the other Moon, Your Highness! It wouldn't be so hard for him to hop from one to the other."

"All right. Now I want you to go back to the Land of Summoned Monsters."

Chocobo began to raise a wailing protest, but Rosa held up a hand and went on.

"You need to explain everything to Asura and Leviathan, so that when we get through to Bahamut, she'll be ready."

"That's assuming he agrees to help," the bird pointed out. "He hasn't shown a great fondness for humans in the past, you know."

"He gave Rydia permission to Summon him," Rosa stated firmly. "Now she has to Summon him through us."

Cecil looked up from his chanting as Rosa bustled back into the room.

"We need to raise the Big Whale," she said in a stern tone.

Cid, Yang, Kain, and Cecil threw her strange looks, wondering if her senses had left her. Edge kept his attention fixed on Rydia.

"Chocobo says that maybe Bahamut could release Asura from the Land of Summoned Monsters, so we need to get to the Moon, now," she explained.

"You and Cecil need to stay here," Edge crossly informed her. "To keep healing her."

The royal couple had to agree to that, so Cid stepped forward.

"I'll go."

"Me too," said Yang.

"Bahamut doesn't know either of you," Kain pointed out. "I'll go with you too - I was there when we fought him. He should remember me."

Edge said nothing, but no one expected him to.

Veronica materialized in another fireball back at the ruined temple and collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.

Get . . . out . . . of . . . me . . .

Her mind reeled painfully, having grasped a part of who she once was for just a moment. Now she clung to that moment, clinging with every ounce of will she had to keep from going under the control again. The thoughts rocked her form - all the people she'd killed - all she planned to kill soon -

Let me be . . . !!!!!!

The red book, which lay on the floor near her, glowed softly. Veronica slammed her eyes shut, trying to block out its glow.

No, it purred. Not just yet, my child.

And again, an indomitable wave of warm calmness washed over her, and she felt herself being washed away.

Everything's just as it should be.

Just enough of her remained intact to cry herself to sleep and be aware of her mind's surrender to the outside force.

The Castle Guards tensed for a moment at the new arrival, but quickly relaxed, recognizing him.

"Welcome, King Edward," they greeted. "Have you heard?"

Edward paused, confused.

"Heard?"

"About Veronica and Rydia."

Shifting the weight of his harp to his other hand, Edward declared he had no clue what they were talking about.

"I came here to see if anyone knew what was causing the black lightning," he explained.

The guards glanced at each other, alarmed.

"Then you'd better hurry inside, sir," one of them advised. "The Caller, Rydia, is seriously injured. King Bahamut is being sought for his assistance!"

Edward blinked, knowing that if Bahamut was being brought into the matter, things must be more serious than he could have imagined. He hurried inside.

Landing the Big Whale on the rocky lunar surface, the three passengers left the ship and entered the only formation that looked able to house the High King of the Summoned Monsters.

Two guards stood at the entrance of the cave, spears crossed to block the entrance.

"Identify yourselves," one curtly commanded.

"We're here on behalf of Rydia, the Caller," Kain explained.

The guards were still for a moment, then allowed them to pass.

Inside the entrance, the cave opened up into a throne room as magnificent as the one Kain had last seen Bahamut residing in, and still seemed alarmingly out of place here, where no one would ever think to go.

Bahamut sat upon his throne, glaring appraisingly at them.

"What do you want," he asked in a not unkind tone.

"You remember Rydia?" Kain asked before stopping to think of proper phrasing.

A smile twitched at the great Monster's lips.

"Of course. How could one forget? Your party was the first to ever defeat me - "

"Well, she's dying and we need you help."

The hint of the smile left him, and Bahamut fixed the Dragoon an almost evil stare, ignoring his two companions completely. They had never defeated him, and so were unworthy of his attentions.

"What happened?" he sharply inquired.

"An ancient evil known as Borthus has manifested, and named her as the only one who stood in his way. She was captured and nearly tortured to death, and we can't help her. We don't think she'll last until tomorrow," Kain hastily explained.

Bahamut regarded him calmly.

"And just what would you have me do?"

Kain took a daring step forward.

"Release Queen Asura from the Land of Summoned Monsters," the Dragoon pleaded. "She's the only one who can save her."

Bahamut waved a hand, and the wall behind them shimmered.

"Let's just see exactly what's what, first," he advised.

Edward stared at Rydia, aghast. He and Edge stood by silently as Cecil and Rosa continued their incantations, which seemed to be making very little difference in the Caller's condition. The only thing that seemed to be slowly healing was her shattered jawbone, which didn't look quite as displaced as it had when she'd first been rescued.

"Do you think even Asura could do any good?" Edward quietly asked Edge, who shrugged.

"She has to. Rydia can't die."

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Rydia's body gave one great spasm, and she shot upright, screaming nonsense, flailing her arms in every direction.

"Mary Mary, where's your Moogle - it's a sunny day, come and play - "

The words were more bellowed than sung, as she yelled them through the agony she now felt of each of her shattered limbs and other injuries.

"She's delirious!" Rosa exclaimed, trying to grab one of her arms. "Stop her - she's hurting herself!!"

The four of them grabbed her, pushing her back onto her bed, trying to quiet her, but she continued to thrash and scream as if possessed.

"Moogle please don't run away - stay and play with me today - "

Edward suddenly released his grip on her and picked up his harp, which he'd set on the floor beside him when he'd come in. While she continued her delirious thrashing and the others tried to keep her still, he leaned close to her face and began to play a song, a song soft and soothing, and slowly the fury left her, and she relaxed into a twitching, contorting mass of tears.

Singing to her softly, Edward nodded to Rosa, who began her incantation for Sleep.

Again, Rydia lay still.

The image wavered, and Bahamut turned away from his three visitors for a moment, considering. He felt a special fondness for the young Caller - she was the first he'd permitted to Summon him in a very long time. Although it went against the rules he'd worked so hard to implement, he had to give way.

"I will release Asura to do what she must," he told Kain. "And she will explain to you about Borthus."

Kain was confused.

"What does Asura know about - "

"You should leave now, human," Bahamut sharply suggested".

Taking a step back, Kain knew when to let something pass.

"Thank you," he said simply.

The great King nodded and turned away as they left for Earth.

Asura and Leviathan waited patiently as Chocobo relayed the situation. Then, the moment he was finished, they broke into a screaming frenzy, yelling words at each other that made the bird wince. Finally, they calmed down, somewhat.

"Would you be able to save her?" Leviathan finally asked.

Asura shuddered.

"Maybe. I don't know - but I have a feeling Bahamut's never going to let us live this one down. Oh, he's going to give us living he - "

"What's going on?" interrupted a tiny voice.

Looking to the doorway, the three Summoned Monsters noted the arrival of Kuijata, the baby monster who had grown very fond on Rydia during her stay.

"Nothing," Asura stated in a prim voice. "Nothing that can't be dealt with." She threw a meaningful glance at Leviathan. "Right?"

"Borthus couldn't defeat us all," he said.

Asura made no comment.

By the time the Big Whale had been returned to its resting place beneath the ocean and its three passengers had returned to Baron, the sun was setting, leaving in its place a strange, almost dusty gloom. Instead of the usual twilight, there was an eerie gray glow illuminating the land.

Edward stood at the window, trying not to shudder at the sight. No one knew what it meant, but they all figured it had something to do with Veronica.

"Well?" Rosa inquired as Kain, Cid, and Yang entered the room.

Kain shrugged.

"He said he'd release Asura."

"Did he say anything else?"

"That she could explain about Borthus."

Frowning, Rosa tossed a glance at Cecil, who shrugged.

"What could Asura know about it?" she asked.

"He wouldn't say. But considering the grudge he seems to have against the Callers, I guess it's safe to assume that even if the Callers themselves don't know for sure how to stop them, the Summoned Monsters might." Kain gestured to the grayness outside. "How long has that been going on?"

"A couple of hours," Cecil told him. "The grayness just sort of . . . appeared. It's strange."

"Dang it," Cid mumbled. "Everything's so strange these days. Whatever happened to normal life?"

"It ended the day our local Dark Knight decided to stop plundering innocent villages," Kain reminded him with a wry grin at Cecil.

A familiar glow then filled the room for a brief moment, then dimmed with the appearance of Asura, Queen of the Summoned Monsters. She took one look at Rydia, then glared at the others.

"Everybody out," she ordered. "Now."

Jumping at the urgency in her voice, they all rose to leave her alone with her patient, except for Edge, who lingered.

"You too," she snapped, and he yelped and ran from the room.

Veronica slowly awoke into the grayness. It seemed so familiar . . . almost comforting in its presence.

Standing and stretching her stiff limbs, she waited to see what would happen next.

"So what happened?"

"Hm?" Kain turned in surprise to Cecil, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a prying expression. They were standing on the tower they'd stood on the night before and ended on such abrupt terms.

"When you were in that ball of fire. What happened?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure. That's the problem," the Dragoon sighed. "I think . . . " he paused to consider his answer. "Yeah. I think I was dead, for just a few moments. Me and Veronica both. Then we came back. Well, I did, anyway. I'm assuming she did, too."

"She must have. Borthus needs a form to stay manifested. All manifestations are alike."

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway, we were talking - "

"Who?"

"Me and Veronica. When we were dead. Actually, no, before that. I kept hearing this voice. Some strange old woman who kept nagging me."

"Nagging you?"

"Yeah. She's like, no, Kain, c'mon, Kain, you're not dead yet, we'd have told you if you were, and stuff like that. Anyway, then Veronica shows up, and I tell you, she did not look at all well, and she's just like what's going on, why am I doing all these things, and what the heck are you doing here, Kain, it's my job to die in this battle."

"Her job?" That didn't make any sense to Cecil, nor, apparently, to Kain, who shrugged.

"That's what she said. Then the lady from the beginning starts up about how if we're going to die and insist on doing it now, we may as well follow her. So we did, because we couldn't help it. Then she yells 'SUCKERS!', and I woke up."

"Weird," Cecil observed.

"Exactly."

"Even for her, that's pretty weird."

"Veronica was never weird, Cecil. Just cruel."

"Oh, everyone thinks that about their older sisters."

"Half sisters," Kain reminded him. "But she was crueler than most. Why do you think I became a Dragoon?"

Now Cecil looked really surprised.

"What - just to get away from your sister?"

"Half sister. Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"I can't believe it. All the years we've known each other, and I never knew. Kain, you're pretty weird."

Kain affected upset.

"Oh? You pronounce me weird, after that whole Lunarian bit? Something's wrong here, Your Majesty!"

Cecil made a pained expression.

"Don't call me that."

"Why not?"

"It's too . . . too . . . "

"Too what?"

Poor Cecil looked sooo helpless.

"Too weird."

And, in spite of everything that was happening, they both broke up laughing.

Asura held her hands about half a foot above Rydia's face, concentrating. Then slowly, very slowly, she moved them down until she had held them over all the Caller's body.

Sighing as the opened her eyes when she was through, she dropped into a chair and called for someone. Edge, who had been standing guard outside the door, immediately rushed in, and she told him to get the others.

8)---------- In Which, Asura spill the beans.

"I've done all I can," she told them when they'd all assembled in the room. "Her body is, for the most part, repaired. For some reason, though, she's still not responding. I'd say the only thing to do now is wait to see if she's got the will to pull through this."

"She'll be all right. Rydia knows all about will," Kain said with an astonishing tone of affection in his voice that made Edge glare at him warily.

"So," Cecil then said to Asura, "what can you tell us about Borthus?"

She grimaced.

"I suppose you really need to know."

"Unless you want to see the planet destroyed, yes."

"All right, all right." She took a breath. "I suppose, in a sense, you might say he was one of us."

"A Summoned Monster?" Yang inquired, startled.

After a short pause to reconsider, Asura shook her head.

"No, forget I said that. He is what we used to be. Long, long, long ago, before we were Summoned Monsters."

This news was strange to the party who stood assembled.

"Weren't you always Summoned Monsters?" Edward asked.

Asura snorted.

"Not hardly. At one time, we were as free as anyone of you, able to move about and live as we pleased. All that changed, and it was because of Borthus."

"How so?" Edge asked, suspiciously.

"How else?" Asura replied. "He tried to rule the world! And he had it made, too, for none of our kind had ever raised a hand against another, and he knew we would not do so, even then. Oh, we made a lot of enemies. When he was finally destroyed, Bahamut had to issue a decree that we should remain in hiding, to leave only when specifically Called by a human, or whoever. It was a safety measure; for centuries afterward, anyone of our kind found was destroyed by humans out of both fear and vengeance. Those of us who did not had their specific powers taken away and became the ancestors of the senseless and hostile monsters who now roam the Earth, attacking anyone they find."

"So how was he destroyed?" Cecil asked, posing the important question.

"In essence - little joke - he wasn't. Since he had no soul, he couldn't be killed or destroyed, because when one dies, one's soul moves on to another plane of existence. He is still in ours, his essence is, so he is still alive, in a strange way. But he had to roam without form or voice, without active thought, even, until manifested. Complete oblivion. His body was destroyed finally, using the power of the Crystals, to the point where his form was dying, and he had to abandon it, or remain trapped in the remains of it forever. He took the alternative, where he would have a chance to live again. No one could stop him."

"So in order to . . . get rid of him," Kain began, "we'd have to destroy the body he now inhabits."

"Yes, that's so," Asura confirmed, not knowing the horror she had set off in the Dragoon's mind with that statement. "It's not like mind control. He is actually within the person he manifests, and will remain so as long as possible."

Then she stopped, noticing a sudden tension in the room.

The others looked at Kain, not going to continue in the conversation unless he agreed.

"It's my job to die in this battle . . . "

It made sense. He couldn't fight it. It made sense, and he couldn't fight sense.

"Then what?" he asked after a long silence. "When - after the body is destroyed - he's through?"

Asura tilted her head.

"Until now, I would have said yes. But that," and she gestured to the grayness shrouding the world outside, "is a symbol of his power. Even without a physical form, he now has enough energy to last long enough to obliterate the world, or put it all under his control, or do some such thing."

"So what do we do then?"

"Well, back then, the Crystals were used to syphon his powers when he tried to use them. The black lightning turned white, and when his powers died, he had to vanish. And he stayed that way - until now."

"One catch," Edge pointed out. "The Crystals stayed on the Moon, and the Moon left our orbit a few days ago. We don't know what came of it."

"How else could he be stopped?" Cecil asked Asura.

"I couldn't say. You must find a way to block his powers, absorb the black lightning, and drain him until there's nothing left. But first you must destroy his manifested form. Who is it, by the way?"

And the looks on their faces told her instantly that she shouldn't have asked.

"So it's settled," Cecil said grimly to Rosa that night. "We have to destroy Veronica."

Rosa shook her head.

"I can't believe it. We used to play together, when we were little."

"You know, I can't say we were ever particularly close," Cecil recalled, "but I guess we were in the way that someone and someone's best friend's older half sister always are." He stopped for a moment. "She used to pick on me. Hmm. Still, I can't believe we have to kill her."

Rosa was still shaking her head.

"It's almost like murder. It is murder! We're sitting here, planning how to kill Kain's older sister! Half sister." She sighed. "Any idea how he's taking it?"

Cecil shuddered.

"I don't dare ask. And just when he was finally starting to open up again."

Although he's probably linked it to that strange vision thing he had. I wonder, could Veronica possibly know that we have to destroy her to save the world?

"You know, you really should get some rest," Yang told Edge. "You haven't left this room since we first brought her here - except when Asura forced you out."

"So?!" the Ninja replied in a very overreactive tone. "Is there something wrong with that?!?!"

"No," Yang replied in a consoling voice, "except that you'll wear yourself out."

"And why shouldn't I?"

"Well, why should you?"

Edge snapped up and, drawing Murasame and Masamune, mutilated a potted plant.

"Because I'm madly in love with her, all right?! I know I could never say it to her face, and she'd never take me seriously anyway, but I am! You don't like it, go shove off!!!!!"

"Shove off!" echoed Rydia, drawing the attention of the two men in the room. She was still unconscious, but seemed to be reliving some sort of trauma. "You killed them, you killed them - help me - you killed them - you saved me . . . but you killed them . . . not your fault . . . . . my name's . . . Rydia . . . not your fault . . . yes it was . . . Mother, Mother, where are you . . . "

Then she rearranged herself slightly and fell into a more restful sleep.

"So," Yang said after a while, "what do you think about this business with Veronica?"

"I never met her, it doesn't make any difference to me," Edge replied in a suddenly stubborn voice.

Yang raised an eyebrow.

"You can't mean that. Even if you don't know her - she's an innocent girl. She's . . . an architect! She can't help what's going on."

"And what do you want me to do?" Edge inquired. "Get myself to the point where I can't bring myself to allow it to happen, when destroying an innocent woman is the only way to save a planet full of innocent people? Think objectively, man."

"What about those of us who do know her?"

Edge sighed.

"We need to be able to do what they might not be able to do."

Kain was, of course, unable to sleep. Rather than take the chance of meeting anyone, he silently let himself out of the Castle gates, making a note to tell Cecil about the guards falling asleep, and walked for a while near the town.

She knows. She knows, deep down inside, that she has to die to be rectified. A sudden blaze of weak fury consumed him. Why does she get it so easy, while here I am, all this time passed, and I still feel as if I'm under some evil spell? Why couldn't I have just been killed, to save trying to sort all this out now?

He wasn't sure if he really wanted that or not. All that mattered to him much at that moment was that Veronica hadn't seemed to mind. She didn't mind. The world must be saved - that was all that mattered.

And then what? When she's destroyed, and Borthus is released, then what can we do? We don't have the Crystals, we've no way of syphoning his power. He'll be released to destroy us all.

It was late at night, but full darkness still hadn't fallen. Rather, the same grayness filled the Earth, putting a sinister shadow on everything.

They had to find a way.

9)---------- In Which, many important things happen.

The sun rose through the same grayness that had held the night.

Veronica sat quietly, eyes closed and book in her lap, concentrating on spreading herself out. She found that she could see anything the fog touched, which allowed her sight over everything on the planet.

Show me Kain, she commanded the fog. I must see what he is planning, if I am to defeat him.

To her surprise and a mild disappointment, he wasn't planning anything. He was eating.

"Rydia's recovering, now we can't have any of you collapsing from hunger," insisted an old Castle Maid, forcing the party to eat. "And don't you go telling me you're full! Eat up!"

"Hear hear!" Fred cheered with his toothless smile. "And bring on the bacon!!"

Kain discretely rolled his eyes, bringing a mild giggle from Rosa.

"Where's the other one?" the Maid insisted, regarding Edward's absence.

"He already ate," Cecil told her. "So he's with Rydia."

She set her lips in a prim frown.

"He should eat more."

"Excuse me," Edge cut in. "Who are you?"

She grabbed a butter knife and threw it at Edge, who dodged it, startled.

"I'm your worst nightmare, punk!" she yelled.

Cid broke up laughing.

"That's tellin' 'im, Mom!"

The Maid shook a furious spoon at the Engineer.

"I told you - never call me that when I'm on duty!"

Cid just laughed harder.

Yang decided to give in to the old woman's insistence, and asked for someone to pass the jelly.

"What flavor?" she asked.

"What do you have?" he replied.

The old woman grinned.

"It's jelly flavored."

"Oh, great," sighed an exasperated new voice. "I should have stayed in a coma."

Everyone awkwardly stumbled to their feet as Rydia, with Edward's help, crossed the room to them.

"Good morning," she said, grinning weakly. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yes!!" the old maid tartly replied before anyone else could say anything. "Breakfast! Now sit down, before it gets any colder!"

"Hey, Ma!" Cid protested. "Let up on Rydia! She's - "

"Famished, thank you," Rydia cut him off, allowing Edward to help her into a chair. "Kain, your sister's not getting my nomination for hostess of the year."

"Don't hold it against her," Kain advised in such a light tone that the others looked at him strangely. "It's nothing personal - she just can't cook."

"That, and she's housing a manifested evil," she reminded him.

"So - are you . . . well, then?" Rosa asked, still startled by the Caller's appearance. An hour before, she'd seemed as far gone as she had since they first brought her back, but now she seemed almost well.

Rydia shrugged.

"Asura's got some mean magic she uses on occasion. Don't put anything past that woman." She took in a big mouthful of something and sat back in her chair, chewing thoughtfully. "So," she said after swallowing, "what's going on? Don't think I haven't noticed the underlying note of tension in the air."

"Well," Kain told her, "the tension's there likely because we've been told that the only way we can defeat our local manifested evil is by first killing Veronica, then finding some way to syphon out his energies until he fades into oblivion, which, might I add, we don't know how to do."

The Caller blinked.

"Y-yeah . . . I can see how that would cause underlying tension." She blinked again and frowned. "What am I talking about? We can't kill Veronica! She's an architect! She's totally innocent!!"

Kain shrugged with a conspicuously blank expression.

Rydia looked around the silent faces frantically.

"You can't be serious!" she exclaimed. "I mean - you can't be serious!!!!"

"We have no choice - " Cecil began, but was cut off by a fiery if weak torrent.

"What do you mean, you have no choice?! Come on, Cecil!! We're supposed to be the good guys, remember? We can do anything!!"

"I don't suppose it would do any good to tell you that she doesn't mind?" Kain softly cut in.

"You know," she lashed out at him, "it's just like you to say something like that, Kain! She must be just like you! Rather get killed than be saved and have to move on! But I thought the rest of you would have more sense than that!" she finished, now directing her fury at the others.

Kain chewed on his fork and said nothing.

"Asura told us it was the only way," Rosa explained, trying to console the Caller. "That's how he was defeated the first time."

Rydia pushed herself to her feet.

"So how many times has this happened? Once? You don't think that maybe there's another way that hasn't been tried that could work?!"

Edge also jumped to his feet.

"Listen, Rydia, we've got a planet full of people to worry about! Reality bites, but a few million plus people get higher priority than one innocent!"

"What, you think you're tough or something, Hotshot?!"

Kain slowly stood up, realizing that he was the one who'd have to put a stop to this.

"Rydia, if there's any other way to stop this, you'd be the one to know," he pointed out. "After all, she named you her greatest threat."

Rydia's jaw dropped and she gawked at him for a long moment.

"Kain," she said slowly, recovering herself, "she made a mistake. She told me so - I'm not her greatest threat - you are."

The pair of them gawked at each other in equal shock, not noticing the others gawking at them both.

This changed everything.

Veronica allowed her vision of them to fade. She had to think now, and make sure that there wasn't another way to defeat her that she wasn't aware of. After some reflection, she figured she could find a way to keep them from being able to destroy this body, although she was surprised when her greatest protection was coming from the Caller she'd imprisoned. Besides, there was no way they could get even close to her.

Such was also the case with the Summoned Monsters. Together, they would be more than able to defeat her, but Asura still clung to the ancient concepts of Monster not fighting Monster along with many of the others, and had to admit that they were still of the same blood.

No, she didn't figure any of them would actually destroy this manifestation. Still, was she safe? Could it be that there was another way to drive her out and defeat her? She didn't think so, but didn't want to take any chances.

Better to gain revenge and conquest now.

Edward, feeling particularly uncomfortable with the tenseness and fighting, stood looking out the window at the grayness while the others continued tried to put things into perspective again.

Something caught his attention.

"Cecil - "

He wasn't heard, due to the conversation going on behind him.

"What if we just found a way to destroy the book?" Cid was suggesting.

Kain shuddered, remembering the last time he'd encountered that book.

"The book protects itself as well as her," he objected. "It wouldn't stand for us to try."

"Hey - " Edward interjected in a slightly louder voice.

Rydia shrugged.

"Maybe I should chat with Bahamut myself."

"I don't think he wants to talk about it. Why else would he have told us to have Asura explain it?" Edge pointed out.

"Hello!!!! I think we have a problem!" Edward yelled.

Startled, the others whirled to stare at him, and he pointed at the window.

Outside, the gray fog was gathering into a great spiral all around them, as if planning to engulf them in a magical tornado. A bolt of black lightning shot out of the funnel as they crowded at the window and would have obliterated them all if Kain hadn't deflected it with his helmet, being another of the Crystal Weapons created by the Lunarians.

"What do we do now?" Yang slowly asked.

"Run for our lives?" Cid suggested.

"No good," Rydia murmured. "Borthus can find us anywhere on the planet. And now he seems pretty mad at us."

The fog seeped into the castle around them, entering a building for the first time since its appearance.

Something snapped in Cecil's brain, and he snapped his fingers.

"I've got an idea!" he exclaimed. "Wait here - I'll be right back!"

Leaving the others staring at him fearfully, he charged from the room and into the hidden treasure room near the main hall. Tossing open boxes and chests frantically until he found what he was looking for, he finally sighed and drew out from its wrappings the last of the Crystals remaining on Earth. This was the one Golbez had given him to use in the final battle against Zeromus, the one who had failed to work for his brother because he was so tainted by the evil which had consumed him. No sign of power had come from the Crystal since the battle's end - indeed, it seemed to have used up all its strength in that final conflict. However, its properties should still be intact, and should be able to filter out Borthus' energies.

Hurrying back to the dining hall where he'd left the others, he found them trying vainly to block the window and keep anymore of the fog from entering the Castle, but they were only succeeding in slowing it down. The moment he entered, however, the fog nearest the door seemed to jump back.

Laughing in a sudden state of insanity, Cecil ran to the window, forcing the fog back through the opening.

"I am Fogbreaker! I break the fog!!!" he yelled at the swirling mist, as it backed away from the window and seemed to hover a distance of a few yards away from the Castle walls.

Kain raised an eyebrow at Cecil.

"Fogbreaker?"

Cecil shrugged selfconsciously.

"Inside joke."

Kain was about to call him weird, when Edward, still glued to the window, exclaimed something and pointed.

The fog was now abandoning the castle altogether and swirling away to the northeast - heading straight for Eblan.

"@#$%!!!!!!!" Edge shouted, noting its destination. He turned and stormed from the room, telling them that he was going for the Falcon and they had to do something before his Kingdom was destroyed again.

It took only a split second for Kain to realize that if indeed, Eblan was again destroyed, this time its inhabitants would have no time to relocate to safety, and every Eblanian would be slaughtered.

He took off after Edge with no words to the others.

The Ninja had beat him to the Airships and the Falcon was already gone, which was just fine with him. Jumping aboard the Rapier, he hastily instructed the crew to take off. There was no time to waste.

On a casual walk through the city the day before, he'd encountered one of the mages who had helped to devise the new spell which grew trees instantly. The mage had been a little drunk, and knowing that Dragoons had no magical talents, had given Kain a complimentary vile of the material form of the spell, similar to the way someone with no magical powers could use a Potion instead of a Cure spell. This vile, having been named Arborion, was the only thing he could think of that he could use with the destructive power he now required.

He'd never actually piloted an Airship before, and so rather disturbed the pilot when he took command, but by paying close attention to the poor man's shrieked warnings, got the hang of it rather quickly, and took the Rapier flying to the ruined island temple where Veronica was residing.

The fog would get to Eblan before he reached it, he knew, and he just hoped that somehow, Edge would be able to deflect the imposing danger with Murasame and Masamune. Still, he hurried.

When the Airship was above Veronica's hideout, he left the wheel, to the pilot's terror, and charged for the railing of the Rapier's deck, hurling the vile of Arborion down on the ruin, and watching in a sudden daze as the remains of the structure were twisted and crushed by the sudden growth of several hundred full grown trees on the tiny island. Veronica would be, if nothing else, distracted.

Then he sped away, knowing that the longer he remained on the Rapier, the more danger the crew would be in. He had to face off against Veronica alone, and it would be soon.

10)---------- In Which, the Climax occurs.

"Stay back, foul evil malicious . . . " Edge searched his mind for the correct word, " . . . JERK!!!!!"

The Falcon was quite a piece of work, and he'd beat the fog back to Eblan by a heartbeat and a half, and now stood on the deck, facing the fog, holding Murasame and Masamune crossed in front of him.

Recognizing the other Crystal Weapons, the fog had come to a halt, and swirled nervously in front of the sweating King. He wasn't sure how long it would take for Borthus to direct the fog around the Airship and into Eblan around him - or perhaps give up part of itself to his swords to get the rest past him to obliterate his Kingdom.

In any case, he now stood, glaring at the fog, trying to will it away. The crew of the Falcon stood silently behind him, watching the fog with expressions of mixed horror and fear.

"You can tell your master," Edge continued, "that you can't beat us, and we're gonna send you swirling back into oblivion no matter WHAT it takes!!!!!!!!!"

One bolt of furious black lightning shot at him, and he thought for a moment that he was about to be toasted, but as the electric evil engulfed him, he felt its tingle, but no harm came to him. Once he opened his eyes, which he hadn't realized he'd closed, he saw the black crackles being sucked up into the blade of the Masamune, confirming that the Crystals could syphon out Borthus' powers. Still, seeing it happen, and seeing the black lightning being pulled away from his own skin with an almost ticklish feeling, really put a new reality on the situation.

Looking up back into the fog with a new anger and understanding, he was about to repeat his threat, but without warning or any action on his part, it broke apart and dissipated into the atmosphere.

With an odd expression, Edge turned to his crew, who all had the same odd expression.

"Um, King Edge?" asked a nervous page who looked remarkably like Bob. "What happened?"

"I dunno," he admitted with a careless shrug. "Someone must've done something." He shuddered. "Land us at the Castle. I need to seek some antidepressant drugs."

Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Yang, Cid, and Edward were all aboard the Enterprise, following the trail of fog to Eblan, hoping that they weren't too late to do any good, and hoping more than anything to not arrive to a smoldering and charred ruin with no survivors. Fred and Cid's mother had wanted to come too, but had been left behind.

"That stupid macho egotistical hot-shot Ninja had better be all right!!!" Rydia seethed as they shot through the air. "Or else I'm gonna kill him!!"

Then she collapsed in an exhausted faint on the deck, worn out from all the stress and her lack of recovery time for her injuries. Asura's magic had been very potent, but the Caller still wasn't quite up to this sort of thing yet.

Yang and Edward made sure she hadn't hurt herself, then let her sleep. It would do no real good to wake her up, after all. There was nothing she could do, and she still needed to recover.

"There it is!" Cecil exclaimed, bringing up the Airship into view of the swirling mass of fog. The moment he did, however, it evaporated into nothing.

"What the heck?!" Cid exclaimed. "Now what's going on?!"

Cecil shrugged and shook his head.

"I don't know, but Eblan seems unharmed. Let's go see what Edge has to say."

"It just vanished. Just like that. Poof. No more. I have no clue what happened," Edge curtly filled them in, pacing in front of his throne. "Now what? I mean, does this mean he's even stronger now, or has he suddenly decided not to conquer the world after all, or has Veronica caught a deadly head-cold and croaked, or - "

"Shut up," Cid snapped.

Edge quickly complied.

"Where is Kain?!" Cecil demanded.

No one knew.

"How could we know?" Rydia asked, groggy and a little cross. "He just ran out."

"The cloud's dissipation probably has to do with him," Yang pointed out to Cecil, who nodded.

"Yeah, it probably does. We should try to find him."

"He could be anywhere!" Rosa reminded him. "It's a big planet!"

"But chances are, he's still on the Rapier," Cecil told her. "If we bring out the rest of the Redwings, we should be able to at least find the ship, and find out what he did."

"That stupid macho egotistical hot-shot Dragoon had better not be hurt," Rydia grumbled. "If he is, I'm gonna beat him to a pulp."

Kain was, however, doing his best to get as far away from the Rapier as he possibly could. Location was important, though, and he couldn't leave them until he was sure he was far enough from any population to put anyone at risk.

"There," he told the pilot (who was very relieved to be back in control of the Airship), pointing at a large open area surrounded by forest. "Set the ship down, let me off, and get the heck out of here as fast as you can."

"But," the pilot protested, "we can't just leave you here! What if something happens?"

Kain glared at the pilot.

"I'm counting on something to happen. Unless something happens, everyone on this planet will be either killed or enslaved, neither of which appeals to you, does it?"

The pilot couldn't deny that.

"What's your name?" Kain asked him.

"George, sir."

"George?" Kain repeated with a blank expression. "Oh . . . I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's all right, sir! No one else has a name like mine! When someone hears the name 'George', they always know it's me!"

"Well . . . that's you. Anyway, set us down."

George, still a little reluctant, agreed and landed the Rapier.

Kain quickly disembarked and watched as the Airship shot out of sight. He hoped this worked. He really hoped this worked.

"The Airships are resupplied and ready for launch, sir," the timid and nervous page informed Edge, entering the throne room in a scared manner.

Cecil looked at him and screamed.

"Oh, Cecil, this is Bill," Edge introduced. "He says you may have met his twin brother, Bob?"

With a spooked glare, Cecil shut the Ninja up, and directed the others to get on the Airships without another word.

Veronica slowly regained her senses. Shaking her head painfully and blinking to focus her eyes, she found herself not only in total darkness, but trapped. Trapped by something that felt remarkably like wood, but that didn't make any sense. How could her mediocre fortress have been destroyed by wood? There were no trees for miles!

But do to her unconsciousness, she sensed that the fog had been dissipated. It could be quickly reformed, but she knew that her plans for instant destruction of one of her antagonists' Kingdoms was a futile gesture: they could fend off her powers.

I have to destroy them. I must remove their weapons from the picture. Then I can destroy them. Then I can proceed to take this planet as my own. And first, I must destroy Kain.

Her entrapment may have kept her from moving, but didn't keep her from speaking the spell that would bring her before her most dangerous enemy - her brother.

Half brother.

Kain wasn't waiting long. He'd expected her to reply to his wooden challenge, and wasn't disappointed.

After standing in the silent clearing for only a few minutes, a bolt of black lightning struck the ground in front of him, leaving in its place both Veronica and a seeping cloud of gray fog which shrouded her body.

As she stood there, it shot away from her and surrounded them, forming a bubble of sorts which allowed nothing to pass through.

"You can't defeat me," she told him.

"Why not?" he reasonably inquired.

"Because," she replied, taking a step closer to him, "I don't believe you would kill me."

He didn't move, nor did he change his hard expression.

"Why not?" he repeated.

Veronica sighed.

"Look, Kain, I carry within me the ancient spirit of a very powerful being. It's no good to deny that. But I'm not consumed, no matter what Asura may have told you. I'm still the same person I always was."

"No," he contradicted. "You were a little ambitious, but never malicious. You've been consumed by a manifested evil, and you know that it's up to me to defeat that manifestation in any way possible."

"So that's it then?" she asked, blinked her deep red eyes. "You're just going to kill me and figure what the heck, I killed my own family to save the world, maybe I'm redeemed now! I've made up for all the trouble I've caused?!"

Something broke loose in Kain at those words. He knew at that moment that there was no conscious scrap of Veronica left within her body, and that there was only one way he could defeat this evil and set her free.

Before he'd even realized it, his Lance was in his hand, then out of it, flying through the air, and driving through his shocked opponent.

She reeled back, staring at him. The Lance had struck her, embedding itself in her left shoulder. The book dropped from her grasp as all control of the limb left her. Then a crackling commenced all over her body as the presence within her was slowly pushed away by the Crystal Weapon in her body.

Kain watched in morbid fascination.

His weapon couldn't absorb Borthus' energy, it could only deflect it. But it didn't want to leave. Veronica twitched in a series of embattled convulsions, a result of the presence within her trying to remain in charge, while she tried to drive it out.

Kain didn't move. He couldn't. He just watched, hoping that this would free her, but somehow knowing that it couldn't. She had spoken his words - the moment the Crystal Weapon was removed from her body, he would be able to remanifest within her. Still, he seemed to be in some sort of trance as he watched the struggle continue.

A furious blaze of black lightning emitted from Veronica, and the Lance was shot out of her and back toward Kain, who probably would have been impaled if he hadn't ducked. The two repelled each other - Borthus and the Crystals - and because his weapon was weaker than an actual Crystal, the lighting had managed to overpower it. Borthus was back in control of Veronica. And Kain knew that there was only one way to truly stop him.

They acted simultaneously. Veronica grabbed for her book with her right hand, dropping the Valdiar carelessly, and trying with one hand to find a spell to use against her opposition. Kain, for his part, swept his Lance back into his grasp and jumped.

Up in the air, as he had so many times in various battles. His most powerful attack.

Borthus may not have known him, but Veronica did, and by accessing her memories, Borthus knew that if she were struck by the Dragoon now, she would be assuredly killed, and he would be formless. The cloud was reestablished, and he would have a little bit of time left to leave his mark on the world, but would have to return to dormancy until another read his words. That meant he had to stop the Dragoon named Kain before he struck this form.

Reciting familiar words as fast as Veronica's mouth could form them, he incanted the only spell which had ever prevailed over the Crystals, shattering two, one light and one dark, in that battle thousands of thousands of years ago. The black lightning began gathering around Kain as he neared his target in the air.

Before the lightning struck him, however, he felt his Lance drive through flesh. The feeling was unmistakable, although he, like Edge had earlier, had unwittingly closed his eyes against the black lightning. After fighting monsters and demons and defeating as many as he had, the feeling of human flesh was unlike anything else. The black lightning vanished.

He opened his eyes and found himself on the ground, in his landing position, a few feet away from Veronica.

Who had his Lance sticking up out of her chest.

Quickly pulling himself to her side, he was startled to find her still alive.

"Hi, Kain," she said faintly with a weak grin, containing the slightest bit of sarcasm. "Don't worry. You did it."

He couldn't believe it. He'd just dealt her a fatal blow and she was dying in front of him, and she was telling him not to worry.

"But - I killed you!!" he exclaimed.

"Of course you did, you goose. Now do your job and defend the Kingdom."

Then, while he watched in horror, she winked one of her deep red eyes and sighed her last breath.

He'd killed her.

She was dead.

Borthus was still alive.

The thought struck the responsible, Dragoon part of his brain, but another part of his brain, one a bit more irrational, twisted the thought into immeasurable anger. She was dead, and he was still alive.

That demanifested evil was one evil that would never see the light of another day.

The fog continued to swirl around him.

Cecil stood aboard the Enterprise, searching wildly for some sign of Veronica's presence. After only a few minutes back at Baron, the Rapier had returned, and explained to Cecil and the others what had transpired with Kain and Veronica.

Quickly, the Redwings had been deployed, a member of the remaining party on each, to search the whole planet if necessary for Kain. They had to find him before Veronica did.

But when the black lightning began to fill the atmosphere, he knew that it was too late for that. All he could do was hope he was okay. After all, if Kain was the only one who could stand in Borthus' way, maybe the battle was going in their favor.

He doubted it, though.

"You IDIOT!"

Kain turned away from Veronica's body in a little surprise and a lot of hatred.

"You've ruined everything!! How could you destroy your own sister, even to defeat me?!"

"Half sister," Kain sneered.

The air in front of him shimmered as he climbed to his feet, and a dark, intangible shape formed in the air. Borthus' essence.

"Whatever. Not that it did you any good. You know you have no way to defeat me now! Surrender, and maybe I won't kill you. Beg for mercy, and your chances are even better."

Kain instead took his shield and moved it toward the demanifested evil.

Borthus took a step(?) backwards and grinned.

"You can't fend me off forever, you know."

And he again began chanting. His most powerful spell. The one Veronica hadn't completed - the one that would prevail over a Crystal, and over a Crystal Weapon.

Again feeling the black lightning form around him, Kain let his instinct take over. As the spell, cast much more quickly by the creature before him who had only to think of words to form them, being not restricted to physical speaking, completed and the lighting began to consume him, he threw himself at Borthus, actually into the intangible creature, holding him and all his energy within himself.

Borthus, imprisoned within the object of his spell, screamed something defiantly. The lightning continued to burn at Kain, now from within rather than from without, but something strange began to occur. As the burning increased in power, along with the screams of both Borthus and Kain, small ribbons of the lightning found their way through the Dragoon's quickly deteriorating body and shot up into the sky.

The lighting was white.

The white lighting began to fill the atmosphere and was visible all over the planet. Each of the nobles on the Airships saw it, and immediately closed in on its point of origin.

When the black lightning originated and attacked within the Dragoon, it met with an opposition unknown to it. As Borthus realized, even as he felt himself evaporate once more into nothingness, his power was being siphoned as it had been by the Crystals long ago. Even as it burned and tore at his victim, the powerful evil was being drained, allowing a harmless testimony to the goings-on appear to the outside world. He knew his time was over once again.

Kain was aware of little except for the burning within him as the lightning destroyed him from the inside out. But as he felt a scream escape him from the agony, he forced his eyes open and saw the white lightning escaping from his body.

"Well, back then, the Crystals were used to syphon his powers when he tried to use them. The black lightning turned white, and when his powers died, he had to vanish. And he stayed that way . . . "

Asura's words floated through him, and he knew everything was as it should be.

And then it was over. He heard and felt one last cry from Borthus, and then knew by some form of intuition or supernatural force that he was gone. Drained. Restricted to oblivion. The planet was safe from his onslaught.

With one deep sigh that was all his half-disintegrated insides could handle, he allowed himself to collapse at last, feeling his soul depart from his body. He was aware of a shout, of being caught and held, heard Cecil's voice, but couldn't quite understand what he was saying.

But that didn't matter. If anything, he was glad things turned out this way. Even though he was dying, he was dying in a good cause, and with one of the people he cared about most in the world with him.

Everything was as it should be.

He didn't mind.

11)---------- In Which, one more interesting thing happens.

Cecil felt numb throughout.

He'd seen what was happening, seen Kain standing alone with the lighting shooting out from him in all directions, and somehow known what has happening. He'd landed the Enterprise and run to him, catching him as he fell, tried to revive him. Felt him take one last, tiny breath.

Felt him die even as he held him.

Now he just sat there, numb, still holding the lifeless body in his arms. Unable to believe it.

Kain was dead.

Kain?

No, that just didn't make sense. Kain couldn't be dead. That wasn't right. Hundreds of people could be turned to ash, Veronica could be lying a few yards away, dead, with a Lance sticking out of her chest, but Kain? He couldn't be dead.

There had to be some mistake.

But as he gently laid the body down on the ground and looked into the still face, he knew there was no mistake. The reality began to seep into Cecil throughout the numbness of shock.

Kain was dead.

Still, he just sat there, beside the body of the Dragoon, who had been his seemingly invincible best friend for as long as he could remember. He who had always been willing to do whatever it took to ensure the safety of the Kingdom and the world, whether it was rebelling against a corrupt ruler or destroy his own sibling -

Half sibling.

He heard a rush of air as another Airship landed behind him. Then Rosa was running up to him, yelling.

"Have you tried a Cure? Have you tried a Life? Have you tried a Heal? Is he responding to anything?!?!"

"Rosa," he said in a dazed tone as she slid on her knees over to him and Kain, "there's nothing left to heal."

"What are you saying?! You're crazy! Kain can't be dead!" she snapped. All the same, she pressed her hand against the Dragoon's neck, searching frantically for a pulse. After a long, long wait, and sat back beside Cecil.

"This can't be right," she murmured. "It can't be. This can't be true."

"I know," Cecil agreed. "But he's dead."

"Yes . . . but . . . there must be some mistake."

And they both sat there beside Kain's body, numb, trying to comprehend, but unable.

The seven stood in a numb semicircle as the two bodies were carried with great dignity and respect aboard the Enterprise. No one knew what to say. No one could even begin to comprehend that Kain, of all people, could be dead.

It didn't make any sense.

Cid was perhaps the first to recover, being the oldest, and having had seen more of this sort of thing than any of the others. And the thought occurred to him that they weren't sparing even a thought for Veronica. Although it was hard to blame anyone - but they'd both had to die to defeat Borthus. It was because of the pair of them that the manifested evil had been swept out of power and into oblivion. But they'd known Veronica would more than likely have to die. They'd braced themselves for her death.

But Kain? No amount of warning could have ever prepared them for this.

"He's really gone," Cecil whispered with a bemused expression, as if he were just realizing it.

For another long moment, even as the Airships started their propellers for takeoff, they continued to stand there in shock. Then Rosa, out of the blue, burst into a powerful torrent of tears that startled the others and made everything finally real.

In order to save them all from a force they did not know how to defeat, Kain had jumped into the very heart of the evil which had threatened them, defeating him, but forced to sacrifice his life to do so. It was done. He couldn't be brought back by any amount of healing, as Asura had done to Rydia. He couldn't be released form some spell, as FuSoYa had done to Golbez. He was dead, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Cecil put his arms around Rosa and held her tightly as she cried, not even trying to console her, because he knew it would be a useless attempt. He couldn't console her. He couldn't even console himself. There was no consolation to be found.

Yang gently laid a hand on each's shoulder.

"Get on the Airship," he quietly told them. "There's nothing anyone can do here."

Nodding but unable to speak, Cecil led Rosa aboard the Enterprise, followed slowly by the others, except for Edge and Rydia.

Edge was feeling particularly cold at that moment, knowing that he'd never been willing to cut the Dragoon any slack because of all he'd done under his entrapment by Zeromus. Now, he'd gone and done what none of the others had been able to do, and lost himself in the process.

Edge was feeling particularly cold.

Rydia paced back and forth restlessly.

"Dang him," she muttered. "Dang him - I hope he goes to heck for this!!!"

Surprised, Edge turned to her.

"What?!"

The Caller glared squarely at him for a moment, then burst into another fiery torrent, once again overwhelmed by emotions too strong for her to handle.

"How could he do this?!?!" she screamed. "How could he let that brute kill him?!?! He should've had more sense than to die!!!! He should have known better than to die!!!"

A fury suddenly rose in Edge.

"How can you say that?!" he yelled at Rydia. "He's not immortal! None of us are! We're not perfect, we can't do 'anything', and sometimes, just sometimes, people die! They have to, to save others! Did that ever occur to you?!"

Rydia stood, trembling, glaring at him like she wanted to tear him to pieces, and then, for the first time since Edge had known her, she collapsed and wept wildly, with such force that Edge was afraid she'd tear herself apart.

Forgetting the fury that had filled him, he stepped forward and gathered her in his arms as he'd wanted to so many times before, but this time with other things on his mind than seducing her to be his queen. Many other things. As she cried, he picked her up and carried her onto the Enterprise after the others. Then they all took off for Baron.

It was all over.

Cecil and Rosa remained with the bodies during the flight home, feeling that they couldn't leave them alone during this final journey. It would seem too much like betrayal.

The others, Edward, Yang, Cid, Edge, and Rydia, were sitting in a small room beneath the deck of the Airship. For the most part, they were silent. Rydia was still getting over her outburst, still wracked by an occasional sob or one of those sob-like breaths that overtake a person after a heavy cry. She sat, limply, letting Edge hold her to him and stroke her hair in silent comfort.

"After my village was destroyed," she said after a long silence, finally gaining some control of her voice, "the only living people anywhere were Cecil and Kain. Some, a few people, had managed to escape the village before most of the destruction was done, but no one came back for me. I thought I was the only person left alive in the whole world. Then they were there, and I knew they were the ones who'd caused it, and I hated them more in that moment than I'd ever hated anyone."

The others listened in appreciative silence to her story.

"I got scared when they decided to take me away with them, and Called Titan - and then Kain was gone. I went with Cecil, for a while, until Leviathan came for me. Later, when Kain was with us again, I can't say we were particularly good friends. Everyone was too wary of each other. Even after the battle with Zeromus was over, I can't say we were very close. He went on a quest for absolution to atone for his deeds, and I went to the Land of Summoned Monsters.

"I really don't know why I wanted to stay with him when he found me after . . . that incident, but I did. And during those couple of days, we finally got to be friends, I guess. But still - all I can see now is him and Cecil in that burning village. When everyone else I knew was gone, they were still there. I guess I thought they'd both be there forever."

She sighed, and Edge hugged her tightly.

"I've known a lot of death - but this - I just can't believe it . . . " she clenched her fists, "and if I hadn't gotten drunk and fallen off Chocobo, none of this would've ever happened!!"

So that was it. The Caller was blaming herself for everything that had transpired.

"Listen, Rydia," Edward said in his soft, clear voice. "There's no way it could be your fault. Veronica read the wrong book. That's all. She read the wrong book, probably trying to pass a rainy day. You couldn't have changed anything. If you go on thinking you could've, you're going to end up just like him - on a quest with no goal."

Rydia hung her head.

"I know you're right," she admitted. "But . . . he's dead!"

"Yes, he is," Edward murmured. "But let's honor him rather than blame ourselves for things we couldn't help, shall we?"

Sighing again, Rydia allowed the rest of the journey to pass in silence.

Kain opened his eyes and found himself in a complete darkness that seemed almost familiar. There was nothing anywhere, around, above, or below him, no light, yet he could see himself. He felt movement, as if he were flying upward, increasingly fast, yet he felt no strain from the force of such rapid movement.

Veronica flew beside him.

"Are we dead?" she asked.

He nodded and murmured an affirmative.

She blinked, her eyes a mirror of his own.

"But that's not right," she insisted. "I'm supposed to be here - not you!"

He shrugged.

"Sometimes things don't go quite as planned," he sighed.

She took a step toward him, somehow walking normally despite their movement and the lack of any tangible ground.

"But this isn't right!" she repeated, grabbing his arms. "It's not! You blew it, Kain! I mean, it doesn't have to be this way!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he told her wryly. "But if there was another option, I guess it's too late for that now."

She shook her head slowly.

"It's just like in life, Kain. You don't know how to use what you have. Everything necessary for total absolution was within your grasp back on Earth, but you didn't know how to put the pieces together and go back to your life."

He blinked.

"Are you saying there's still some way I can change this, and I just don't know how?"

"Oh, come on! You act like death is forever! Of course it's not - everyone's going to come back someday - but you have the ability to speed things up a little bit here! And I really suggest doing so before your body is buried."

"What?! I can't just come back to life! It's impossible!"

She frowned at him.

"Kain, if I'm the victim of circumstance in this situation, you're the victim of stupidity."

"She's right, surprisingly enough," said a new voice that startled them both. Jumping slightly and turning, they saw the woman from the last time they'd both been dead standing there.

"Yes, it's me again," she said, when she saw they recognized her. "I asked to be assigned to you both, you see. Your mother wanted the job, but let me have it. This time, at least you're really dead, though."

Something that had remained cloudy in Kain's mind since his last encounter here, in the ball of fire incident, finally cleared up.

"You're Rydia's mother," he pointed out.

She tapped her foot on the nonexistent floor.

"You point that out every time you come here, Kain. Yes, thank you kindly, I am."

"You said I was right," Veronica interrupted, "but you also said we were really dead. How can both be true?"

"Well, dear," the Caller explained, "it's just as you said. Just because he's dead, doesn't mean he has to stay so. You do, your situation demands it. But you, Kain . . . well, the Powers that Be are taking pity on you."

"Eh?"

"You wasted the last portion of your life pining for spiritual fulfillment, which, as your half sister has pointed out, was within your grasp all the time, if you'd only known how to put everything together. But because of . . . well . . . everything, enough pity has been taken on you that you are permitted to have a chance to fix things, if you really want to."

Kain looked at her solemnly.

"Fix things."

"Make up for all the trouble you caused with your quest. Didn't you realize all the agony you put your friends through?"

" . . . "

"Just like you. Anyway, though, yes, you are permitted to fix things."

"How?"

"Oh dear, you're supposed to know. I can't tell you."

Veronica folded her arms.

"Well, little brother, I think it's time you learned how to think with your head and not your feet."

Kain folded his arms back at her.

"But I don't know how."

"Figure it out."

"But I can't."

"Then we have a problem. If you can't, we'll just have to move on, Kain, and you'll never get another chance."

" . . . "

"Fine. Fine then."

The funerals were to be a simple affair. While advisors to the Kingdom of Baron insisted that a hero's burial with the entire Kingdom present was the proper thing to do for them both, Cecil had gagged at the thought and proceeded to plan the small, internal affair that he knew they both would have preferred.

Veronica had been laid to rest first, because there were a lot of people in the world who couldn't see past the obvious and believe that she had no fault. There were many who believed her responsible, and many attempts to destroy her remains had been made, although all were stopped easily by the castle guards, who had each and every one of them locked up until they came to their senses. Still, rather than prolong the insanity, she was buried two days after the affair, long enough for a proper facilities to be acquired - a grave dug and a noble tombstone carved.

This affair was hardest on the three Baronites, Cecil, Rosa, and Cid. The others, for all their good intentions, simply had not ever known her. They hadn't grown up with her bantering like Cecil had, or been taught how to make paper dolls as a child by her as Rosa had, or watched the four of them grow up together in the usual childhood mayhem of competition and quarrels and friendship as Cid had. Still, the seven of them, along with the respectful presence of the Summoned Monsters, watched with equal sadness and respect as she was buried.

Bahamut was noticeably absent, but the others, including little Kuijata (for whom this was a first excursion into the upperworld), attended the ceremony, because it was one of their own kind that had caused her death.

The next day was the worst, though, as Kain, his body fully restored as was the custom, was to be buried. This was an affair attended only by the seven who had fought alongside him in the past.

Now, the numbness had finally worn off. They all knew that the moment the lid of the coffin was closed, no one would ever set eyes on his face ever again.

As was also the custom, he was to be buried in full armor, along with his sword and shield. This matter had aroused some controversy, for his weapons were, after all, among the Crystal Weapons formed by the Lunarian people, and were among the only weapons capable of fending off a creature such as the one they had just fought. But as Cecil had pointed out, he had been killed using those weapons to save humanity. It would be desecration to bury him without them.

But Edward had finished singing the requiem, and now the time had come to close the coffin and bury the Dragoon.

Cecil stood beside the open coffin, knowing he had to do the job of closing it, but just not feeling able. This was his best friend. How could he?

But he had to, and he knew it.

For a last moment, he lingered there, allowing his fingers to rest on Kain's helmet.

"So it's come to this, has it?" he murmured. "Goodbye, my friend. Until we meet again . . . we'll all miss you . . . take care . . . "

He sighed and was about to lower the lid, when a jolt ran through the dead body before him and Kain snapped upright, whacking Cecil in the head with his own, who, lacking any form of protective headgear, took a heavy blow from the blue helmet adorning the Dragoon's skull.

Cecil yelled and passed out, both from the blow and the shock of having a dead man whack him in the head.

Kain, oblivious to what he'd just done to Cecil, rubbed his head, looked around, and exclaimed, "What in the name of the sacred Crystal of Matoya just happened?!?!?!"

He met dead (ha ha) silence. The others, wrapped in such a shock and surprise that one would have to experience to believe, just stared at him with dropped jaws.

Raising an eyebrow at them and shivering slightly, Kain looked around some more and noticed that he was sitting in a coffin. Yelping, he jumped out, stumbling a bit on feet quite surprised to be in use again, and brushed himself off frantically, as if afraid to have contracted some strange disease by sitting there.

When he looked up again, it was to see a green blur flying at him, and in the next instant, he found himself lying flat on his back.

Rydia, this time being the first to recover, flew at him with such force that she utterly decked him, throwing her arms around his neck and exclaiming, "Kain, I'm glad you're alive, so now I can kill you!!!!!" Then she kissed him soundly on one cheek and laughed maniacally.

Kain couldn't help but laugh back as his mind cleared and he remembered everything, and he hugged her back tightly for a moment, before asking her to get off of him so he could get back up.

She mumbled something and let him up.

The moment he was back on his feet, Rosa almost knocked him over again with her own powerful embrace.

"Rydia said it perfectly, so I don't have to say anything!" she declared, kissing him soundly on the other cheek.

Kain shook his head and kissed her back.

Edge caught his gaze.

"I'm not going to kiss you!" the Ninja stubbornly stated.

Now Kain couldn't help himself and burst into full-blown laughter along with the others.

As Rosa stepped aside, Kain glared at Edge for a stern moment, then said, "Good," and burst back into laughter.

This continued for a few minutes in which everyone felt completely insane (after all, what other explanation was there?). Then they were brought back to Earth by Cecil's awakening.

He snapped upright almost as dramatically as Kain had.

"You're dead," he stated with a stern expression, pointing at the Dragoon. "I watched you die, I held you as you took your last breath!"

Kain slid across the floor, kneeling so as to be at eye level with his friend.

"I know," he replied. "That was my last memory before I died. But it's okay now. A God more ancient and powerful than any we know took pity on my poor existence and gave me one last crack at pulling my life together, which I took him up on. Veronica's dead, and that's okay, she doesn't mind being dead, in fact, she kind of likes it, so there's no need to grieve for her except that we'll miss her a lot, but I was getting all kinds of lip about how I still had a job to do here, so I managed to figure out how to get back and here I am! I'm not a ghost, and I'm not a demon - I'm alive, I'm me, and I've got a lot to make up for, so don't just keep staring at me like some sort of weirdo! I've been dead for three days - I'm hungry!"

Cecil blinked, confused by this explanation, and Kain grinning and pulled him to his feet.

"Smile, everybody!" he said to the semicircle of still somewhat bemused friends. "It's a nice day! The world is safe! Let's celebrate! But you," and he glared at Rydia, "don't let me catch you anywhere near an alcoholic beverage!"

And finally, the spell over everyone shattered, and they realized that it was true. He was back.

Cecil threw his arms around Kain in an unashamed embrace, and then everyone went out to find something to eat.

)---------- Epilogue

In the weeks that followed, things seemed to be back on their feet and growing for the first time since Golbez' takeover. Construction was resumed on the Great Library, Rydia went back to shunning Edge as an egotistical jerk, and Yang's wife continued to embarrass him in front of his subjects. Also, Rydia took it upon herself to begin training new Callers. Fred vanished mysteriously, and frankly, no one missed him, so she was, in essence, the last Caller on the planet. She knew it was up to her to continue the art, or it would be lost forever. And so she took on four students, one for each of the major Kingdoms of the world, Baron, Eblan, Damcyan, and Fabul. Kain, for his part, couldn't remain oblivious to the fact that there weren't many well-trained soldiers, much less Dragoons, left in the Kingdom of Baron since Golbez had caused so many battles, and, after being placed as head of Cecil's army, began shaping up the new recruits to effectively fill their positions as they should. Soon, the world would forget all they had lost.

One bright afternoon, after Rydia had spent an infuriating afternoon trying to train her Baronite apprentice, who was a very infuriating person, she was wandering through the city trying to calm her nerves before returning to the Land of Summoned Monsters for the night. As she was doing so, she caught sight of Kain dismissing a unit of trainees in a flustered voice. They scattered from the scene, and he looked after them, shaking his head in bewilderment for a moment before moving toward the Castle.

"Hey, Kain!" she called, catching his attention. "Had a rough day?" she asked as they caught up with each other.

"Don't even ask," he replied, rolling his eyes. "They mean well, I'm sure . . . they can't help it if they're just plain . . . stupid."

"Oh, I know exactly how you feel," she replied, taking his arm. "Let's get something to drink. I need to calm down."

He shrugged.

"Sounds good."

The pair of them ended up in a small cafe outside the Inn, which was set up during the warm months of the year. After some consideration over beverages, they both decided on Lemonade.

No sense taking any chances.

"So how's it going with your trainees?" Kain asked her.

She leaned back in her chair and screamed.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm gonna go CRAZY!!!!!!!!" she replied.

Kain, who had been swallowing a mouthful of his beverage, almost choked, he started laughing so hard. She joined him, surprised by her own outburst, and the two of them just sat there and laughed for a few long moments, before calming down. They both needed that; it had been a long day.

"How about you?" Rydia then asked him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then reconsidered.

"Um . . . what you said," he told her. "See, though, I can't risk my reputation by letting out such an outburst."

"Ha! What reputation?! You're such a loser, Kain!"

"Yeah? Well at least I don't ride a Chocobo home every night! You can't even live with your own species!"

"Really? And was that a challenge?"

He stood and looked at her solemnly.

"Yes, Rydia. That was a challenge. We must now duel to the death." He held out his hand. "Thumbwrestling!"

Life was good in these times. No wars, no invasions or manifestations - and somehow, they all knew that the serenity of these times was going to be cut short by some form of something in the near future, which made these happy moments even better. Everything's better when you know it won't last.

Kain beat Rydia at their "duel to the death" with no problem, and they both sat back down to their lemonade.

"Hey, Kain, did you ever get the feeling that we got jipped in this whole thing?" she loftily inquired, rocking her chair back, propping her feet up on the table, and relaxing utterly.

He suppressed at laugh at her unladylike behavior. If only Rosa had wandered up right then . . .

"Jipped how?" he asked, instead.

"Well, think about it!" she admonished, waving her glass about. "The battle against Zeromus left you and I out in the cold! Just look at it. Before the war, Edge and Edward were little princes. After war, they're Kings. Before, Yang's happy Karate Man. After, he's a King. Before, Cecil is guilty Dark Knight. After, he's a half alien King of Baron Paladin. Before, Rosa is beautiful and sweet White Wizard. After, she married Cecil. Before, I'm a Caller. After . . . I'm a Caller. Before, you're a Dragoon. After . . . do you see my point?"

"You forgot Cid," Kain jibed.

"Okay, so Cid got jipped too. What's your point? He's happy with his Airships anyway. And you, at least you finally found spiritual fulfillment. What about me? What do I get out of this whole thing?"

Kain rested his head on his hands and leaned across the table.

"Well, if one certain King gets his way, you may still be a Queen someday," he told her with a wink.

"One more comment like that, and you're gonna stay dead!" she snapped with a straight face.

He grinned, able to take a joke.

"But we're the last of our kinds," he pointed out. "The world has good rulers, which is important, and I don't think we'll be seeing any wars between nations in our time, which is good. There've been to many in the past few years. Still, no matter how good the leadership is, they need people like us to keep the world turning. It's up to us to repopulate the world with members of our trade, even if training new recruits is probably as hard, if not harder, than any form of political disputes that could ever arise."

"Hear hear!" she agreed, raising her lemonade glass, recalling her infuriating day of teaching. "I see your point. Still, did you ever wonder what would've happened if maybe you'd ended up King of Baron instead of Cecil?"

He snorted.

"I shudder at the thought, Rydia. Cecil could never train a Dragoon!"

They laughed some more.

Rydia set her empty glass down and glanced up at the sky, which was almost dark now.

"You know, Kain," she sighed as the stars began appearing, "I sometimes wonder what things would be like now if things hadn't gone exactly the way they did. I mean, I could never be glad that my family and friends were all killed when you and Cecil set my village on fire, but if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't be sitting here with you right now, reminiscing and thumbwrestling."

He nodded.

"A lot of really terrible things have happened to us," he agreed, "but every one of them served a purpose. I finally realize that - everything had to happen exactly the way it did, or else it may have turned out worse."

She grinned, raising her glass.

"To Zeromus! A toast of empty glasses to an empty-hearted demon, who ended up perhaps doing more good than bad."

He grinned back, raising his own empty glass.

"And to Rydia, who can come up with something as crazy as what you just said!"

Life was good.

)---------- Disclaimer

Yes, friends, it's disclaimer time! So, Veronica, Borthus, Fred, Bob, Bill, George, and Cid's mother belong to me. The Rapier was named by myself, and Arborion does not exist, I made it up. There is no ancient ruin on a tiny island, I made that up too. Fogbreaker is an inside joke. Everything else, I guess, belongs to the Final Fantasy people, who write Final Fantasy games. I forget who they are, and that's why I'm not citing them here.

Did this story make sense? I always worry that my stories won't make sense. If you have any questions, please e-mail me as echidna@neobright.net. I love getting e-mail!

In case you noticed, Masamune did something a little weird in this story. I'll explain that next time. See, there's something funny about that sword . . .

Now let me tell you a little bit about how to write a story like this. Because, much as you may think, a story like this does not come rolling off like butter! No! First, you plan for months to write out a short FF fic, in which a certain character gets drunk and falls off a Chocobo, mentally entitle it: Friends Don't Let Friends Summon Drunk, and not give it another thought. Then, wait until you contract a terrible illness from a close friend who shall remain nameless (Clovis) which leaves you unable to speak, so you can't go to school on Friday. Then spend the day in front of a computer, spurting out a story as it comes to you, hoping that it will make sense to other people. Then spend portions of the weekend, while you're finally feeling the misery of a full-blown sickness (hence putting a particular character through a lot of pain, and plan to kill a lot of people by the end), tapping away at it some more. Go to school Monday, then stay at home Tuesday, because you're still sick, and then find out with some horror that you missed a bomb threat at school in which every student had to be run through a metal detector and searched for weapons. Write some more. By the time this day is over, you should have written 33 pages on Windows 3.1 Write, all the while feeling utter misery. Realize that your story is no longer cute and cuddly, and change the title to something deeper. Then, somewhere during the week, decide that you want to kill your favorite character. Then later during the week, decide that he can't stay dead, because he's your favorite, and you might need him in a later fic. Spend your first period CAD class absent-mindedly planning bits of dialogue, and begin using the term "spastic psychodemon" as a household phrase. Annoy your mother in the car by trying to explain the plots of Final Fantasies IV and V, which you should know can't be done. Next Sunday, May the 9, 1999, after a chaotic weekend not worth beginning to explain, plop yourself in front of your computer and finish, eventually putting out a long and involved disclaimer that has nothing to do with anything, really. Suddenly find yourself worrying that with the current state of the nation, a fic with violence such as pictured in this story just might make someone go out and kill someone else, then just hope that people have enough sense not to go kidnapping their worst enemies, locking them up in an ancient abandoned temple, and beating them to a pulp, and post it anyway! Then you're done! Be happy!

Class dismissed, now get out there and write your own! You know you want to!

FYI: Matoya and her crystal are from FFI, the Great Library is from FFV, and Kuijata is from FFVII, and is supposed to be the little monster who thought Rydia might be "different" at the end of FFIV. Heck he had to come from somewhere! Had to toss them in, you know. As for the issue of the Arborion, I know that was cheesy, don't yell at me, but see what happened was, I write this big forest story, than go back to the game to check something, and realize that there is no forest near Mysidia! Whoops! Better find out some way to get some trees in the story, Annie! So that's where that came from.

If my own older half sister ever reads this, don't take it personally, okay? Nothing to do with you!

And also, I have nothing against architects. They were just there, so I thought I'd pick on them in this story.

Should by any chance my parents read this story, I want an Airship for my birthday.

Coming soon! The Celebrity Deathmatch fic, featuring Cid, Cid, Cid, maybe even Cid, and Mid! Check out Kaysey and Kim's Realm of Dreaded Stuff, where they have really weird stories like that. http://members.xoom.com/KayseyandKim.html . While you're at it, check out my webpage at http://www.bright.net/~dyuncker/echidna/index.html . And still, although you must already be here, check out the only site to currently host my Final Fantasy fics, Arcana at http://members.xoom.com/gtkelpie . Till then, see you all later! I love you! Really! Thanks for reading the disclaimer!