Celes had long wondered what it would be like to find one of her friends again. She’d been alone for too long. Aimless for too long, and it was something she’d often imagined in those tortured hours between consciousness and sleep. She’d envisioned Locke stumbling upon her with his trademark grin or Edgar -- charming and intrusive as always -- offering her a line that would’ve been sentimental if she hadn’t known his intentions. She’d criss-crossed every conceivable possibility for a friendly reunion, but not one of her daydreams had prepared her for the flyer she found shoved into her hands outside the walls of Torensten.

’Experience the thrills of fate at Torensten’s very first high-risk casino. Place your bets, win big, and have the night of a lifetime at the grand opening of the Strago Relm!’

The Strago Relm.

Celes felt her mouth fall open, staring at the thing. Who on earth…? Why on earth, and how…? Her eyes flew past the rest of it, searching for something -- an address, a name, anything but found nothing but more meaningless fluff and a bit of postscript tacked onto the end. ’Located in the prestigious Blackjack airship parked outside the eastern walls.’

Setzer.

Of course it was Setzer! How had she even questioned that? A casino named after two of their friends? If it was Setzer (and it had to be) then what did he think he was doing? Here they were, trapped in a nonsense world with no way home, and he hadn’t gone about trying to find anyone or learn anything.

No, instead he’d settled down to gamble. Why was she even surprised?

Celes wasn’t certain if it was relief or rage that drove her to pocket the flyer and charge tight-lipped towards the city’s eastern quarter. She didn’t even thank the man who gave it to her, and she didn’t have time to so much as spare the guards a passing glance. She was a woman on a mission -- though whether that mission was to greet Setzer or slap him was yet to be seen. This was just like him. Not considering a single person but himself. Holing up somewhere and drinking himself half to death when things looked rough. He was the kind of person who needed someone to light a fire under him if anything was to get done, and Celes was more than practiced in starting fires.

It was dusk by the time she reached the eastern walls. When she stepped outside the gates, she almost didn’t recognize the scene before her. What were usually dim and isolated fields were suddenly lined in colored tea lights. She’d heard before that almost no one left the city after sunset for fear of their own safety, but apparently no one had gotten the memo that night because every street was packed with eager voices and bright eyes. For a moment, Celes could only stare at the scene before her, taken aback by the garish waste of it all before her eyes landed on the focus of everything. A towering airship so familiar to her she could have recognized it from half a mile away. The Blackjack, as tacky as ever and impossibly whole, strung up in lights with a sign outside traced in cursive letters. ’The Strago Relm.’

Celes’ mouth fell open. Well. Setzer had certainly been busy.

She tried to push towards the airship doors, but the crowd was too thick and too unrelenting to let her anywhere near it. There was a line, they said. She had to wait her turn like everyone else. Celes felt her lips thin as she touched impulsively at her sword. How could she wait now when she knew what was inside? But it couldn’t be helped. Celes spent the better part of an hour with her arms crossed and her shoulders squared against the cold, tapping her foot and glowering at the fairy-lit atrocity before her. With every minute wasted, she imagined Setzer standing where she stood now with his hands squared to canvas his vision and shouting orders to the townspeople. ’No, no. I need more baubles on my airship! And the tea lights must be a very exact shade of violet!’

Clearly, it was time well spent.

Celes’ tongue felt as sharp as a saber by the time she started up the ship’s gunway, but what she found inside nearly stopped her in her tracks. The Blackjack.

She’d known the airship in an instant, but it was different seeing it up and running again from the inside. How many nights had she spent here, sleeping on the lower decks? How many games of poker had Setzer tried to goad her into and how many times had she lost? It was like stepping back in time. A less complicated time when all she’d had to worry about was risking her life against an empire she still didn’t know if she could betray. It felt almost wrong to have so many people packed inside, jabbering and filling the space with laughter. This was her memory. Her friends’ memory, and here it was filled to the brim and turned into a tourist trap. Celes’ nose wrinkled at the wafting stench of sweat, booze, and smoke. No, this was exactly what Setzer would make of it on his own. He was the kind to wallow in his own indulgences.

Celes pushed her way through, glancing at the games as she passed. She didn’t see him among the tables of shuffling cards and clumsily stacked poker chips. She didn’t spot him either among the blackjack tables or the fully stocked bar. She wondered briefly how he’d managed to afford the staff and supplies for any of this, but that was the least important matter at hand. No, all of that could come after she answered her first and most pressing of questions -- Where was Setzer?

She caught him in a flash of white from the corner of her eye. Straggled hair. A gold-embellished coat. Celes turned to face him, staring. There he was, the same man as ever, with his familiar scars and dramatic gestures. He was dealing a round of some kind of card game now, and every move felt practiced and bombastic. Celes felt her breath catch in her throat at the sight of him. Here was something familiar. Someone she knew.

And he was, as always, an idiot.

”There you are!” She raised her voice to pierce through the clamor of two hundred rowdy gamblers and straightened herself to better face him. Setzer wasn’t one to respond if she didn’t hold her own against him. ”Of course I’d find you here! The airship, the name, the gambling. It’s all so…you!” Celes let out a breath through her nose before giving him the best scathing look she could manage. ”What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

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For a moment, Setzer barely acknowledged her. Their eyes met. He knew she was there, and still he continued with his game. Celes’ eyes sharpened as the game’s players glanced back at her awkwardly. ”Setzer, I’m right here,” she tried again, but still, his game was apparently too important. So she crossed her arms and waited, letting him bear the weight of her glare until he deigned it a good point to wrap up his little game and speak with her. She’d been on this world alone for two years at least and this was how Setzer acted upon seeing her again? Part of her wanted to turn around and walk right back out the door, but the other part -- the part she refused to show -- couldn’t stop watching him. He had one of those faces that was impossible to forget with its distinctive scars and ashen complexion. It was the kind of face she could recreate perfectly even with her eyes closed, and seeing it again in person…Well, it was familiar more than anything. And seeing it in the halls of the Blackjack made it feel like nothing had changed between them at all.

Setzer called over another dealer and slipped to the side, motioning for her to follow. Celes hesitated, glancing at his replacement before starting after him. There wasn’t much space to meet and every corner felt crowded, even as they turned to face each other. Still, she supposed it couldn’t be helped, and honestly she wouldn’t have minded if the surrounding clamor had completely drowned out what he said next.

”Celes! Mon cherie! My friend, you live!"

Celes blinked without comprehension, wondering where he’d gotten the sudden enthusiasm or the accent. He spread his arms in an almost welcoming gesture before going on. ”You have the wrong idea, my dear, I assure you, Allow me to get you a drink,” he said. ”If it would please you, I can take you to my private office where we can talk in peace and at length! As for what I am doing, I promise if you give me a chance to explain, I shall tell you everything I have been up to.”

He spoke so much all at once that Celes found herself being swept away in it all, and at first, she could only stare. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting from him, but it wasn’t this. When she’d first found him after the catastrophe with Kefka, he’d been an utter wreck half drinking himself to death in a bar somewhere -- completely unwilling to help and not particularly happy to see her. She knew the situation was far less dire now, but part of her had expected something of the same. Without something to strive for, of course he’d wallow in his own grievances. Of course she’d have to wrench him from his own lethargy. It was so much a given that she hadn’t even questioned it until the contrary stood to face her.

Then again, maybe this was exactly Setzer’s cup of tea. A world without ruin where no one knew him and he could slip in and out of his wild schemes at will? That didn’t sound unlike him at all now that she thought about it.

”I’m fine.” Celes voice came sharp and impatient. She glanced at the bar only because he’d gestured to it, and her cheeks heated a little at the thought. She’d never really drank before, not even when the others had offered it to her and not even after civilization had collapsed. She hated the idea of it, honestly. Of losing control of herself. With everything that had happened, she couldn’t think of anything less appealing. ”But if you want to talk…” she started and then paused. She wanted to speak with him somewhere quiet, but asking to be alone in Setzer’s ‘private office’ felt like it was just asking for trouble. After all of their time together, they never really spoke of Celes’ kidnapping anymore, but it only took one time being locked unwillingly in an engine room under threat of forced marriage to be a little uneasy alone with anyone.

No. She couldn’t think like that. She’d let herself get kidnapped, and if he tried anything now, they both knew how easily she could overcome him in a fight. In fact, there hadn’t been a moment of that whole ordeal she hadn’t been completely in control, but still…

Setzer had proven himself to be the type to kidnap young women. Celes could never unknow that.

”Fine,” she said again. ”Your office sounds fine.” It wasn’t like she’d never been in there before. ”And then you’ll tell me everything you’ve been doing. Deal?”

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Setzer didn’t seem to notice her discomfort or perhaps he just didn’t care. Regardless, he gave her an oddly cheerful affirmation and told her to follow him. Not that she needed to. She’d spent weeks on this airship and could have navigated it walking backwards. Still, she let him take the lead. He was the pilot, after all.

He was happy to see her. He’d questioned if any of them had survived. Celes wondered vaguely how long he’d been here. To Edgar, it had had only been a few months since they’d last seen each other, and he’d only found himself in this impossible place a few weeks ago. So how was it with Setzer? Could she have failed to notice him for long before this? Somehow she doubted it, but he would have needed time to set up all of the glitz and glamor she walked past now. She still couldn’t say whether it was a better use of time than her own or a fabulous waste of it.

The engine room was a wreck to say the least. Between the shattered wooden shards and the bitter slick of oil, Celes would have called the ship as good as dead if stray tools hadn’t littered the floor. ”Well that explains why you’re not in the sky,” she said, wrinkling her nose as her boots met grease. Still, she wasn’t about to complain that the airship was busted. The last she’d seen it, it had broken completely in half and crumbled into the sea. All things considered, it looked downright pristine.

Setzer ushered her through the door his back room as though she needed the guidance. ”I know, it brings back memories for me too, but that’s not what’s important right now,” he said as he held the door open and gestured for her to step inside. Celes eyed him carefully before striding through, keeping him constantly in the corner of her eye. She could never be too careful with men.

The room was just as she’d remembered it. Half industrial with wooden panels and steel cogs -- now eerily silent without their engine. Half gaudy and plush with blue suede armchairs and an oak-polished table. Celes’ lips pursed as he pulled out a chair for her. She chose to remain standing.

Two months. He’d only been here for two months. Just like Edgar, really. It was impossible, and yet, she doubted he was lying. His voice was still too hopeful. His drive still too strong. The pointlessness of this place hadn’t beaten him down yet. Not like her. As he spoke, she found it hard to even recognize him as Setzer. He certainly looked the same with his same garish coat (now removed and folded over the hook of a coat rack) and the pallid make-up. His hair was just as wild, his scars just as jagged, but his eyes had lost their shrewd edge. He didn’t move with the caution of one who’d known complete despair. No, Setzer -- this Setzer -- seemed more like some kind of festive archetype in an old fable. He brought with him a spirit of revelry and cheer with no hint of needing it just to keep sane. It seemed a return to civilization had done Setzer well.

Too well. Celes watched coolly as he sipped something mysterious from a mug. How could he stay so jovial when nothing made any sense? He’d set up his airship as a casino. He wanted to watch people and gather information, but to what end? Celes wondered if even he knew.

”And I see you found my....beacon.” His voice came a little slower as he set the mug back in place. His words held a sliver of what might have been caution. ”I figured if you were here, or even alive you would be the first to find me, you always were the most clever of our little band.”

”Me?” Celes blinked, touching at her chest in surprise. Was that just flattery, or did he mean what he'd said? Certainly, he must have meant Edgar with all of his inventions and his charisma or even Locke with his roguish wiles. Celes had battle strategy. She had common sense and she usually had a sense of dignity, but was she the most clever? The thought heated at her cheeks as he continued.

”I chose this name for one reason,” he said. ”If any of our band still drew breath, they would find me here. Afterall who else would name a place after two of our friends?"

”Ah,” was all she could manage in response. She’d guessed as much, of course, but it had all been so obvious, so gaudy, so excessive that she hadn’t much thought to admire his strategy. It had worked, of course, so she couldn’t deny its merit, but if it had worked it was only in the stupidest way possible. ”Well,” she said. ”Here I am.”

It felt weak even to her, standing here in this impossible room in front of this nearly impossible man. She’d longed for something familiar since the moment she’d woken up in this bizarre place. She’d dreamed of friends and reunions and old places she’d once known, but now that she stood here -- almost literally like a walk into the past -- she didn’t feel joy or relief or anything she’d imagined.

In fact, she didn’t feel much of anything at all.

”Your desk’s clean.” She didn’t know what made her say it, but it was true. His papers were neatly stacked, the corner’s all aligned. Not like the man she’d found slumped over a bar table in Kohlingen. Not like the hedonistic pilot who’d been willing to risk everything on a suicide mission just because nothing had been valuable enough to hold onto. He’d thrown his life like a chip in her pile yet here he was, standing solidly on his own two feet with an almost ambitious gleam in his eye. It wasn’t something she’d ever seen before. She wasn’t sure if she liked it.

”Setzer…” she tried before she lost her words to a sigh. She didn’t know where to start except for ”What are you doing?” but of course, he’d already told her what he was doing. He’d turned his wrecked ship into a casino so he could maybe learn something, maybe run into people he knew, and maybe fix it, but that didn’t matter much to her. ”No, not what are you doing, but why? Don’t you think this is all a little…?” She paused, searching for the word before she shook her head and looked right at him. ”Completely ridiculous?” She gestured vaguely above her though whether it was at the casino or the world at large, she wasn’t sure.

”You brought me here. That’s a step, but what happens next? There’s no...Well, there’s nothing to stop here! There’s no sign of where we came from or how we got here. There’s no clues at all, and not much point to anything that I can see. Say everyone sees your little flyers and you manage to get every last one of us through those doors -- what then? Why all the excess? It’s all so…” She let out a short breath. ”Silly.”

She could hear the footsteps of the crowd above them. The laughter muffled through floorboards. It was a sound she hadn’t heard in a long time -- something that blissful. Who was she to judge how someone else rebuilt and made meaning for themselves? Of course it all meant nothing. But she’d once made meaning by gathering everyone she could, and that had only been for a suicide mission.

Still. It had been something. For something. Why did the thought of settling down here -- even with the people she’d missed so terribly -- churn her stomach?

”I found Edgar.” The words came almost emotionless. She didn’t know what else to say. ”We ran into each other a few days east of here. He should be somewhere in the city now. Probably flirting with something.” Her lip twitched into something that wasn’t quite a smirk and wasn’t quite a scowl. ”I’ll bring him by tomorrow morning. I don’t think I want to walk in on whatever he's planning to do tonight.”

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Setzer had a plan. That was a surprise in itself.

What was even more surprising was that the plan wasn’t half bad. It was certainly more motivated than Celes had ever seen Setzer before. Usually he was the type to wallow in his own hedonism unless spurned to action by...Well. Her, if she was being honest. But here he was. On his own and plotting something halfway reasonable. He’d use the profits from his little casino to fix the airship. With an airship on hand, they could travel the world to gather up the remains of the Returners and see what they could manage from there. It was forward thinking. It was practical. It was…

...Uncharacteristic. Celes eyed him almost suspiciously. ”You’re really doing this to find everyone else?” she asked with more than a hint of caution. ”You’re certain you’re not just doing this for the Blackjack’s sake?” Now that was something she could see. Setzer, spending his time gambling to clean up the true love of his life -- an airship. Claiming some noble cause just to get his way. Then again, she supposed his sincerity didn’t really matter. ”Well, I’ll hold you to that,” she said. As long as he was true to his word, the end result would be the same.

Setzer leaned towards her with some kind of crazy gleam in his eye before sitting back again, sipping from whatever liquor was in his cup. ”I thought the next step would be obvious,” he said. ”I need help. You know just as much about the inner workings of this airship as myself and Edgar…”

”What?” The word slipped before he’d even finished. He kept going on about how airship repair really wasn’t so difficult when you thought about it as Celes just stared at him, barely biting her tongue until she got her chance.

”So that’s what this is all about!” she said once he’d finished. ”All of this charm and pretense and ’looking for the others’? You just want help with your airship!” It was like all the pieces had aligned and something finally made sense. Maybe that was why Celes was grinning. ”I knew it was too good to be true. You, talking about risking your own neck to get everyone together? You’d never do something like that, but it’s just the kind of thing I’d want to hear!”

Still, his reaction to Edgar was enough to throw her back off guard. His eyes brightened instantly at the name, clapping his hands together with a cry of ”Excellent!” so loud that Celes was left blinking at him. Setzer went on about fate and how this must be meant to be, all while Celes tried to straighten herself and make sense of it. She supposed that Edgar was the best engineer they knew. Still, this level of enthusiasm from Setzer was...new.

”If I may be so bold, could I get you to have one small drink with me to toast the occasion?” Setzer continued, eyes as bright as ever. ”I swear on my honor that I will be a perfect gentlemen if even the smallest amount should scramble your thoughts and cloud judgement."

”Huh?” The offer came so fast and so excitedly that Celes couldn’t manage anything else. Just a stare and another blink before the words caught up to her and she sighed. ’I swear on my honor?’ What a joke.

”Fine,” she said. ”But only if I pour it myself.” Celes shook her head, crossing her arms as she appraised him. Despite all of the night’s surprises, the man in front of her was certainly Setzer. A man who’d have the nerve to offer her a drink and swear on a kidnapping gambler’s honor that he’d keep to himself. ”As for your airship, it’s not like I have anything better to do. I’ll stick around and do what I can to help, but only if you keep your word and use it to find the others.” The glanced at him, head tilted and smirking. ”Deal?”

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