This had been a game. And Caius had been wholly aware that it was a dangerous one to play. Whether it was clear or not, both sides were playing a game and the jury was still out on just who had won. Caius' moves to clue Celes in on what was going on didn't seem to be going well, but Caius had also made moves on his own to further their side of the game either way. He had learned from his mistakes of trusting people like Kuja and Aerith, learned to play this game after the incident with Darlene. Perhaps he was a little paranoid... But it had given him the foresight to make moves such as this. Now the question became as to whether the move would be a decisive one.

Caius hesitated to drink the tea, but only a moment. He trusted Celes. If he were to fall from poison, no matter how potent he trusted her to be able to get on it and deal with it quickly. It was risky, but he needed to follow through on this if his suspicions were to be confirmed. But the green color didn't belong to any tea he had ever heard of. It was either poisoned, or spiked with something else entirely. Something that he hoped Celes could heal.

He was putting an awful lot of faith in her, but he had been doing so for a long time now. No need to start second guessing her now. So Caius, when ensuring the others were drinking, did so as well. He noticed right away the small smirk that spread across the lips of the older man as Caius took a big glug of it. It didn't taste different from any old tea. It wasn't the type of tea he'd ordinarily take, but tea was tea. He smiled gingerly as he placed down the mug.

"Good tea" He remarked casually. "Thank you."

The old man, for the slightest of moments, had a look on his face that Caius saw to be the slightest little crack. Concern. He saw concern. But he wiped it away quickly like a master as he slowly nodded his head, and spoke ever slower. "Indeed" He responded. "Anything for a humble guest. My lady, you... Are sure you don't want any?" He asked Celes as he turned to her, his hesitation making Caius wonder. Was he stalling? Why would he be stalling? Caius looked to Sue then, giving her a curious glance. "Miss Sue, you've been rather quiet" He spoke up, perhaps as if wanting to see if she would break.

But Sue responded by falling over.

Caius' eyes widened as he reached forward to catch her as she fell forward. "Hey, hey!" Caius called out, and the older man stood from his chair slowly as Caius scooped up the fallen woman in his arms. Caius knew full well what had happened, but he kept up the facade just a little longer. Just a little bit longer to gauge the terrain. He watched the man from the corner of his eye, in case he tried to attack. Caius was already set to summon his sword and attack the moment he saw even the slightest sign, and he knew that by now, Celes would know to do so as well.

But then the woman, Sue's complexion began to suddenly shift. Her perfect porcelain skin began to darken as scars began to adorn it. What once resembled a beautiful, fair-faced young woman with cute little dimples had shifted into the look of a battle-hardened, older woman, somewhere in her mid to late 30s. The scar across her eye that likely had set her blind was the dead giveaway to Caius before anything else. Caius swore loudly and his brown pupils shrank as he suddenly dropped her in surprise, unintentionally letting her crash to the floor roughly as he backed away.

"What the hell...?" Caius trailed off in horror at the form before him, before looking to the older man. The older man merely shook his head.

"Don't play stupid with me, boy. You know full well what's going on. And I know what you did."



All around them, the house began to shift. The walls, homey and warm if not a little worn, turned black as cobwebs began to appear where paintings, lamps and wall decorations had once adorned. The rough but charming little abode had turned into a building that looked as though it had been abandoned for months, and Caius noticed evidence of recent damage from fire and physical slashes as well. The only real decoration that wasn't covered in cobwebs and dust were the little torches scattered around the room, which dimly lit the ramshackle, deserted wreck around them. And its inhabitants. The older man himself had also changed. His skin was almost grey in color, and he himself had gone from looking perhaps in his 60s, to... Well, Caius didn't want to say a bag of bones, but there wasn't many other terms that could come close to accurately describing the devil that stood before him.

The man sneered as he held out a hand, a fireball beginning to erupt between his fingers. "So, did you like my little masterpiece? Though, I do have to ask... What gave it away?"

Caius held out a hand as his gunblade materialized in his hand, and he could hear Celes more openly preparing her magic as well. Good. If she was aware of what was going on, or at least enough to know they were in danger... They might stand a chance. Hearing footsteps, Caius knew who they belonged to. The same goons he'd been keeping an eye on from the start. He sidled back a bit to stay close to Celes, not wanting to risk being knocked out of her range. If they stayed together, they would be better able to combine their strength despite the numbers disadvantage. He knew a fight was coming... But he didn't fire yet. If they weren't attacking yet, then there was time to find the best opportunity... And prepare.

"Cel, two behind" Caius spoke bluntly toward Celes "From the square, by the looks of them. Would recommend ice magic. Worked before" He added, ignoring the old man's question. One of the chef-hat wearing bandits sneered as he pointed a firearm at the back of Caius' head, and the older man frowned as he looked to the bandits behind them.

"You know these two?" The older man asked the two, a scowl beginning to protrude from his brow. "So I have you two idiots to blame. I said stay out of sight. I'll deal with you later"

The two bandits lowered their heads slightly. "Yes, Charon."

"Charon?" Caius inquired curiously, looking to the man. That name was familiar. It had been on the files that Caius had swiped from their camp after...

Shoot.

"Watch the old guy" He told Celes quickly as he tried to hide the fact he was reeling from the realization of just how bad this was. "Priority threat. Extremely dangerous."

And to say this just got really bad was an understatement. Caius thought back to the magic user they had encountered on the first job they took Relm on. If this man had tutored them, and was capable of all of this as well... Just how powerful was he?

"I am" Charon responded with a smirk. "And if you know who I am... Then you must be the one who killed Darlene. You've caused us a lot of trouble... But I suppose it doesn't ma-"

Caius didn't let him finish. He'd already grabbed the barrel of the gun being pointed at him and lurched the bandit forward just as Charon launched a large bolt of black energy toward Caius. The bolt struck the bandit and exploded, sending Caius flying back and crashing into the wall, the explosion sending broken furniture, rotted wood and the bandit's body flying as well as things hit walls and the ceiling and then started to fall around them. The ground seemed to shake below them, and it was clear the building was unstable... It wouldn't take much more of this.

The other bandit had already drawn a firearm and fired at Celes, hoping to catch her by surprise.

"Agh..." Caius grumbled in pain as he willed himself back up. The space was too tight for them to survive with two powerful spellcasters in the fray. And with the rumbling... If the spells didn't kill them, the house just might.

"Celes! We gotta go!" Caius called to Celes, hoping she'd be able to get herself an opening. Charon didn't hesitate as he launched another of those bolts toward Celes. Caius held out a hand to Celes as he readied his weapon, eyeing the window that had shattered from the blast. "We can't stay here!"

---

Caius smirked lightly at her retort. "I know. Always good to know your options though" He responded, before things shortly after fell apart. With the power of that spell, Caius had been lucky it had hit the bandit and not him. If it was enough to send him back just from the force of the explosion, well... He didn't even want to look for the body of the bandit that had been hit in his place. He almost felt bad, honestly. He hadn't meant to kill him, even indirectly. Caius had defended himself and the bandit had ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Speaking of defense, Caius considered himself lucky that Celes had decided to protect him while he was still getting back his bearings from being rattled like that when he hit the wall. "There isn't much higher my opinion of you can go, you know" He joked lightly - seeming to be far more light and comfortable with Celes around even with business at hand - when Celes thrust herself in front of him, though he was about to call out to warn her when the spell bounced off her, even seeming to energize her. Had she done that before? If she had, it had been a little while. Useful, either way.

But when the house had begun shaking, Caius had called for them to leave. He had his escape route planned, he just needed Celes. It seemed Celes had planned well though, as she made her move as soon as Charon had cast his spell, and needed time to recharge. Clever girl, she was. When Celes reached for him, he tightly grasped her hand as he turned and darted his dagger out the window. "Hold on!" Caius called to Celes as the two of them were sent warping forward.

And not a moment too soon. As soon as they re-appeared outside the house and hit the ground, the structure they had just been in began to collapse in on itself. The worn down home would collapse entirely, before the remains fell down the cliff it had been resting on. Leaving only some rubble remaining.

The rest of the village looked mostly the same as before, though there was far more evidence of damage now across the buildings. It looked as though the village had been attacked recently, anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months ago.



But Caius and Celes didn't have any time to sightsee. What seemed like the entire village had appeared after the explosion within the house. Caius even glimpsed the elderly couple that they had talked to earlier about their son, and the laundry woman that Celes had asked for directions earlier. But one by one, their faces and bodies began to change as well, revealing a small army of rogues and ruffians in the armor and garb that Caius had learned to associate with The Original Sin. They were vastly outnumbered.

"You gotta be kidding me" Caius grumbled low as he watched many of them begin to draw weapons, or even begin charging magic. He could hear footsteps, and knew that Charon had survived. Blast it all. Trusting Celes to watch their back, he turned to face Charon as he brandished his weapon.

"Oi! Where are the actual villagers?" Caius barked toward Charon then, de-summoning his dagger and bringing back his sword.

"Does it matter? We -are- the villagers now" Charon responded, seeming to take almost a little too much pleasure in this statement. "People get lost in the woods and come here to rest all the time. We just... Decided that my abilities provided an opportunity for a little profit."

It didn't take much for Caius to realize just what that meant, and he felt a pit well up in his stomach. He felt sick. With this many houses... How many? How many had they killed just to set this up, to take their places? And how many people had they killed and robbed that had come here? Caius could feel bile beginning to come up, and he quickly squashed it down, desperately trying not to show any sort of weakness. But if Celes looked back at all, the horror was clear in his eyes.

"Monsters" Caius growled, looking from Charon and then to the advancing bandits, and then back to Charon. They were vastly outnumbered. Their odds of winning here were slim to none. Charon only shook his head, seeming amused by the name-calling.

"The cretin who killed my daughter in cold blood is calling me a monster. Fancy that."

He cocked his head once more and the bandits surrounding them began to advance. "You might as well make this easy for yourselves. The alternative is a lot more painful, after all."

Caius took a deep breath, trying to come to terms with just how many lives had been lost here. But he knew they would become part of that statistic if they didn't have a plan. He leaned back to speak to Celes.

"Hey. Look, I... Know this isn't ideal. But I need you to trust me."

Hastily fiddling with something in his gunblade, he quickly brought his hand up to raise the tip of the blade into the air.

---------------



"I can handle myself. He doesn't usually go far, so I established an SOS protocol for if I need him" Caius revealed, summoning his gunblade and pointing it into the air. "I had bullets custom made to be incredibly loud and flash with colour that I fire into the air if it's an emergency. I've been teaching Vordun to recognize them."

---------------

He fired.

A flare shot into the air, bright with colors. After it reached a certain height, it went off in a loud explosion, with colors scattering through the air where the flare had went off. The bandits stopped to look at it, but soon began laughing.

"Oh, so he has bravado now, does he?" One bandit called out to them. "Did you expect that to scare us?" Another jeered at them, while Charon remained silent. Did he know better?

While keeping tabs on their positions, knowing the fireworks had only bought them a little time if Vordun didn't arrive soon, he spoke again to Celes as an unmistakable roar sounded in the distance.

"We need to get out of firing range. No hesitation. As soon as he arrives, get on. Hold on to me if you need to, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

The bandits stopped to look up as Vordun hit the scene, the dragon enraged at the sight before him as he landed near Caius and Celes. Vordun didn't hesitate, launching a jet of flames into the crowd. Some burned, others fled from the flames. But from the corner of his eye, he noticed Charon starting to charge a spell... He took that as their cue to go as he rushed forward and climbed onto Vordun's back, turning to hold out a hand to Celes. He knew she might hesitate, he knew this might not be easy. But they needed to get out of range and fast. He called out to her, desperation in his voice.

"Please! Celes!"

---

"I know!" Caius remarked in an irritable tone as Celes stated the obvious -- regardless of whether or not he wanted to fight, they needed to get out of here while they were outnumbered like this. In a perfect world, he would have fought from atop Vordun and taken down this whole army, then called the guards and hoped maybe they were keeping the villagers somewhere that the guards would find. But this was not a perfect world. And in this non-perfect world, they were at a serious disadvantage. Caius' memories flashed to when they had been surrounded by bandits last -- when that harlot Darlene had taken them hostage and hurt Vordun. The thought made his blood boil even more, but he tried his best to keep a cool head as he pulled Celes aboard. Once she was situated, though there was no time to get her or himself strapped in properly, Vordun took off immediately.

Charon didn't fire, not yet. But the others did. Firearms started going off en masse, and Caius struggled as he held onto Vordun with one arm, tightly as possible with the knowledge his life was on the line here, and the other grabbing Celes by the shoulder and pulling her as close as possible. This came just in time for Vordun to act on instinct, abruptly zig-zagging through the air without being able to regard the two on his back as he did his best to dodge. Once Vordun was steady again, Caius released the two places, and let out a pained groan as he rolled his shoulders. That hurt. A lot. But a promise was a promise.

"Hook your legs like I showed you earlier. We don't have enough time to fully strap in, so hold on tight" Caius called back to Celes, using the small window of opportunity to hook his legs into the holds on the saddle. It wasn't ideal, but there was no time as he knew they would be reloading. But when he looked down, it was worse than he had expected.

They were loading long range weapons now.

"Damn... We're not getting out of here anytime soon. They'll just shoot us down" Caius admitted. "We need to make our opportunity to flee ourselves."

But then a light erupted from below, and Caius peered down toward it. It was Charon. He was pouring his magic into... Something. It was growing. And growing, and growing and growing.

Until it stood bigger than a house.

"A dragon?" Caius whispered, his eyes wide. It was big, it was a dark red in color and it was one of the most monstrous looking winged lizards he had ever seen. This had to be another illusion, right? He could see Charon no longer charging a spell, instead he seemed to be maintaining it. So this had to be an-

The dragon launched a fiery breath that Vordun narrowly dodged. The heat that nearly singed off Caius' ear told him that fire was definitely something resembling real. An illusion that could exist in a physical sense? It seemed impossible, yet... Charon had done all of this so far. But then again... Dragon or not, it couldn't have the same stamina as the real thing, right? Charon wouldn't be able to maintain it forever if it could take damage...

"If we can take that thing out, we might be able to use the chaos to escape" Caius spoke back to Celes. He began to guide Vordun, forming a plan on the fly. Caius had Vordun fly a little lower, just as the dragon turned to face them, opening its jaws as Caius could see the inside of its mouth beginning to glow. But in better news, the dragon was now obstructing the bandits' view of Vordun. They wouldn't be able to fire without hitting it instead.

"The inside of its mouth is likely vulnerable to spells when it's charging" Caius called to Celes as he held out a hand to charge a Fira spell once Vordun was close enough, remembering the wyverns from his mission with Faris. If they attempted to flee now, the thing's fire would still catch up to them. The only chance they had most likely was to take it down, and then make a break for it while using the body as a shield, and the chaos as their cover.

But he was going to need Celes for this to work. Caius wasn't sure if his magic was powerful enough, and he wasn't going to be able to melee from here. While he could cast second tier spells, his ability to do so for a long period was limited. He hated putting this on Celes, but... Their survival was up to her.

---

"You've got this" He promised softly when it was clear that Celes was having issues back there. He couldn't blame her. After the whole issue earlier in the day, Celes was clearly going to have problems atop Vordun... Especially if she needed both hands. But they had to do this. Their survival depended on it. He reached back to place a hand on her shoulder. "You're gonna be fine" He promised softly. "I know you can do this. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

And then it began. Spell after spell. Celes didn't stop. Caius was too busy helping Vordun maneuver to watch the battle much, but he could hear it, he could feel it. The dragon reached up and attempted to claw at Vordun, but Caius was ready for it. "Hold on!" Caius called to Celes as Vordun would go into a tailspin, swiftly dodging the swipe just as the creature started to charge up again. Celes' spell stopped it, and the creature recoiled in pain before attempting to strike again. Caius managed a peek down below and realized that they were out of the blind spot for the shooters the moment Vordun dodged the next. And they were still aiming... Those long rifle things still pointed.

"Shoot!" He growled, but Celes was ahead of him. She fired another Blizzaga which sent them scattering. And finally, one more. Aimed at the Mage, who wasn't expecting it. It hit dead on, and the dragon, already damaged, began to blink in form. Caius realized then that they were almost there...

... And also realized, to his utter dread, what had to be done.

Just as Celes began to fall, Caius unhooked himself and grabbed her hand. Turning himself around, he grabbed the other and pulled her aboard. He'd promised, after all. He looked down to Charon, who was starting to get his bearings, and to the dragon who had begun charging another fireball...

"Celes" Caius spoke softly toward her as he let go of her hands and began to offer her parts of the straps, including his own, to secure herself more than one would normally. There was a solemn calm to his expression, yet there was sorrow in his eyes too. Wrestling with what he had to do... And the risk that it held. "Listen... I... I've thought about it. We can't leave him alive" He admitted. "Not with power like that. And when that dragon is taken out, it will probably impact him too. It'll take time for him to try and cast something again and that... Is when I need to act. It's risky, but... This might be our only shot. If he's left alive, people are going to die... And for those in the Dragonblades... I don't want to imagine it."

The idea of killing someone again weighed heavily on Caius. He didn't want to do it again, not after how much what happened with Darlene had taken out of him. But if he didn't... If he didn't try now, then every death that followed this, whether it be a civilian or a Dragonblade... It was on him. He took a deep breath as he started to get to his feet. He began to charge a spell in his hand as he looked to Celes.

"I... Need you to pilot Vordun for me. I know this isn't going to be easy, but... He trusts you, and I know you can do it. I trust you. I need you to pilot him down, low enough for me to strike and warp back up. If I fail... Take Vordun and go. At least one of us has to report back and tell them what happened here" He remarked, taking another breath.

They didn't have much time left. The window was closing... They either needed to finish the thing off now and escape... Or finish it off and take their shot. If they didn't do it soon, the monster would fire and they'd lose their chance. While Charon was weak from the attack earlier, this was their best opportunity. He stared at her pleadingly.

"Please... I need you to do this for me. I need to do this. I'll never forgive myself if that monster hurts anyone else."

If Celes told him no, there was a chance he would stand down, and would almost be guaranteed to live another day. He would most likely listen to her, after all. But he'd never forgive himself if he did. He'd never sleep right again. And he would devote every waking moment to finishing this before anyone else was hurt if they didn't take the chance now.

The choice was hers. The final throes of this battle all lay on Celes.

---