The silence between them made her itch. There wasn’t any warmth in this man -- nothing to express at all. Celes wasn’t exactly the friendliest woman herself, but something about this man made her uneasy. It felt like every word was calculated. She couldn’t read anything beneath them.

”Those two apparently found me unconscious in the woods. I have no idea how I got there.”

”Oh.” Celes paused. Did that mean what she thought it meant? She wondered if now was the right time to ask. ’You wouldn’t happen to be from somewhere else, would you?’ He was dressed strangely enough for it. ”It’s okay. I’d be in shock too.”

And so she had been, and she’d woken up alone. Dealing with both the confusion and a kidnapping wasn’t something she liked to consider.

”I’m Rufus,” he said. He seemed almost self-conscious. It was the first emotion he’d shown since she’d untied him. ”Forget taking me to the city for now. You said you were looking for the bandits’ hideout?”

Celes blinked. ”Well, that’s why I’m here, but…” She trailed off. He wanted to go after them -- that was obvious. Whether it was for revenge or the greater good, did it really matter? If he could handle himself as well as he claimed then maybe they could work together. Still it left her uneasy.

”You’ve been through a lot,” she said. ”I think I should take you back. These people are dangerous.” Dangerous enough to nearly kill her on one occasion. They weren’t much to handle on their own, but if they worked in a pack or if one of their lieutenants were nearby…

Rufus pushed his hair back, and with it, any pesky emotions that might have slipped through. ”There should have been at least one other person with me,” he said, and suddenly Celes understood.

”Oh,” she said and then paused to think. It wasn’t vengeance then but concern. How could she possibly refuse him that? ”If they’re there, we’ll find them.” She looked at him with what she hoped was encouragement. She wasn’t exactly good at comforting people.

Celes sighed. ”I’ve seen men like that before,” she said. Her own ruined world had been crawling with bandits, thieves, and even slavers using the lawlessness as a pass to take whatever they wanted -- damn the people. ”They won’t hurt your friend unless he acts up. Even then, I doubt they’d kill him. They wouldn’t want to damage their cargo after all.” The words came like bitter poison. If it hadn’t been for her own convictions, she’d have killed a man like that in a heartbeat. No, she had to be the better person.

A better person than she’d ever been in her life.

”If they were taking a cart, their hideout can’t be far off the path. That’ll make it easy to find, but it’ll also make it easy for them to find us.” Celes put a hand on the cart chocobo’s side. ”I expect they’ll have lookouts posted which means we’ll be ambushed. There are plenty of vantage points over the ridge.” She looked up at the rocky overhangs. If she’d been in charge of tactics, that’s where she would have posted her troops. Anyone stupid enough to follow the path would be wide open to ranged fire.

”They’ll be prepared to meet us. After I…” Let them go. Not the smartest move, was it? Then again, she hadn’t expected to push on when she had a weakened, bleeding hostage in tow.

She shook her head. ”If you want to go back, you can. But before that…” She locked her hands together, head bowed as she muttered to the magic within her. Once she’d finished, it burst from her in a soft wind that overtook Rufus in light. She smiled at him sheepishly. ”A cure spell,” she said before pushing herself onto the cart chocobo’s back. It was clumsy work without a saddle, but she was strong enough to lift herself higher than this. The poor chocobo gave a startled squawk, pawing at the ground as she settled awkwardly into place.

It would have to do.

”You can take mine,” she said. ”I don’t mind.”

ulla

Sometimes she felt like she hardly had the chance to breathe.

Celes watched the fields pass by -- a sea of waving grass and wheat stalks. It smelled earthy and cool like leaves on a fall day. A tuft of grain fluttered across her bare arm, and she shivered. The life here gave her some comfort, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t out of place. The world she knew had been dry and barren. She felt almost like a stranger alone in this sea of normal life. She’d never really belonged there in the first place.

”This isn't about you,” she said, shaking her head. ”Just get the job done, and you can…” What? Find the next job? Go on another lonely ride through strange lands? Well she certainly couldn’t go back to Caius. Not now. Not after the masquerade.

What had there been between them? She’d felt it like a magnetic pull. His eyes on hers. That soft voice. His touch on her hand. She couldn’t stand it. Hadn’t she told him she didn’t want any of that? She bit her lip even now. Whatever had been there, it hadn’t been by choice. She didn’t love him. Not in the way she had Locke -- though that hadn’t turned out splendidly. Had he only ever wanted Celes to replace her? Rachel? He certainly hadn’t seemed happy to see her.

After all that time, after everything that had happened, no one had batted an eye when she’d walked through the door. ’Oh, I don’t think I can go. Would you mind solving my problems first?’ That wasn’t friendship -- not really. She’d accepted that now a world and a lifetime later. Caius was her friend. Caius would stay by her no matter what happened. Caius had-

Betrayed her, hadn’t he? Or her trust anyway. She’d told him not to look at her that way.

Her chocobo gave a soft trill, and she looked up to see that the grain was ending. At the field’s edge was a house. And at that house were people. She let out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t been too late then -- not to prevent another raid at least. There’d been reports of them here in the isolated farm houses just outside the village. If she’d found them held at gunpoint...If she’d found their blood on the ground…

But as they came into sharper focus, she couldn’t help but frown. There was the farmer and his wife. There were half a dozen laughing children. They were wrestling with someone -- a bear of a man that lifted them easily. And then down the lawn…

Wait, were those men tied up?

Celes pulled the chocobo to a stop, dumbstruck. There they were, just about four of them clad in leather armor. Their faces were misshapen and purple. They hung their heads in a kind of tired defeat. Still, the children played and the farmer sipped his mug. What had happened here? Were those the bandits? How had they-?

She dismounted her bird, grabbing it by the reins and leading it closer. Was this another trap? Like the one in the forest? She doubted it. These seemed like good people. Good people who had men trussed up by the road.

The farmer hadn’t done this. He didn’t have the training, and why would she have been called if he had? His wife looked just as vulnerable, and the kids...Well. They weren’t exactly Relm, were they? That left the human bear. He wrangled a child onto his shoulders and looked down the road towards her. His eyes knit with confusion before he raised a hand. Celes froze, staring at him.

Wait, was that-?

”Sabin?!”

For a moment, she could only stand there. Staring. Her mind churned faster than she could keep up with, and she caught only flashes of it.

Sabin was sitting there. Sabin Rene Figaro. He was-

”Sabin!” She was running without thinking, closing the distance in seconds. ”How are you-? Where did you-? You’re here!” She couldn’t keep her words straight. Not when she’d seen a familiar face. After all this time, she’d found someone. And that someone was…

”I thought I’d never see you again.” She sighed a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. ”How did you get here?”

ulla

The sky was a slate gray that morning by the Devil’s Ridge. It had always been dour along these long-forsaken paths, but today felt particularly dreadful. The grass was wilted. The trees hung limply. The air tasted sour, and as Celes kept the reigns of her chocobo steady, she had to keep from wrinkling her nose.

The Devil’s Ridge was certainly the right name for it. Though maybe she’d have come up with something a little more explicit.

”It’s just a patrol,” she muttered to herself. ”You’ll fight some monsters, check the road, and then…” She hesitated. 

”Find another job.” Celes sighed. If she’d wanted to go home, she would have been there already.

But she didn't. Because she hadn’t imagined what she’d seen in him that night at the masquerade ball. She’d seen Caius in a straightened jacket with his hair slicked back. She’d seen his eyes burning, felt his hand on hers, heard his voice. ’You’re happy. That’s all I care about.’

Oh she just couldn’t take it anymore!

”Hold!” Celes pulled on the chocobo’s reigns, rearing it back until it came to a stop with a sharp Wark! She dismounted heavily, pacing out three steps before she stopped, turned back around, and then stopped again with a muffled growl of frustration.

”Why does he have to be so difficult?” Celes threw her hair over her shoulder and marched straight towards a craggy underpass. ”Does anything want to fight?," she yelled. "Because I haven’t got all day!” Her cry echoed against rough-hewn walls mixed with shadows. It wasn’t a cave exactly -- more of a long tunnel with light on the other side. Gray light. Dismal light.

Celes pressed her palm against her forehead and laughed. What was she doing?

”This isn’t like me,” she said to herself. ”Getting all worked up just because…” Because she’d trusted him. Because he’d turned out like any other man. What was she supposed to do? This wasn’t like with Locke. Sure, she’d felt that strange connection between them both, but with Locke it had been exciting. With Caius it was just…

Intrusive. Unwanted. Wrong. She was only out here because she couldn’t take it there. She was only here because-

Something glinted in a sudden shift of sunlight. A coin? Celes frowned and knelt beside it, examining it between her forefinger and thumb. It was definitely gil though no kind she’d ever seen. It was a strange mint, lightly dusted with clay, and most importantly…

”Blood?!”

Celes recoiled. This was the real reason she’d come. Not for any personal drama or silly lover’s quarrels. She was on a mission -- a mission against the worst kind of men she could imagine. Bandits. Slavers.

The Original Sin.

Celes hurried back to her chocobo and seized the reigns. The coin hadn’t been there long. Whoever had dropped it was close.

She brought the bird to a run, sprinting across the wasteland with reckless abandon. Now and then, she saw eyes following her. She saw wolves startled along the ridges and goblins lurking in the underbrush, but she didn’t have time for them and nothing dared to block her path. These were old roads cracked and creeping with crabgrass. Her chocobo made easy work of the rough terrain, but the tracks pressed into the dirt before them were hampered by a set of heavy wheels. A cart would make slow progress here. She had time.

Oh god, let her get there in time!

She heard it before she saw it -- the uneven clink of wood on hard ground. There were voices too, talking about something she couldn’t hear. As she closed the distance, she saw a boxy figure fast approaching. A wagon. In front were two men steering a cart chocobo, and in the back…

Was that a man?

Celes grit her teeth and clicked her heel, leaning into her chocobo as it picked up speed. How dare they! Taking prisoners! Tying them up! Sending them to-!

She sat up and kneaded her hands together. ”Blizzaga!” Her magic cracked in front of the wagon, and ice erupted like a glacial wall across the path. The chocobo screeched, rearing back as the men cursed, looking around wildly and asking, 'What in the hell was that?'

Her eyes burned into them with cold fire. It was enough to make them jump back, dodging out of their seats as though on instinct. ”Who’s that crazy bit-?”

Celes threw herself from her saddle, pulling her sword in the same motion. She struck one man with the blunt side of it, sending him sprawling into the dirt. The other pulled a dagger, holding it out in front of him with wild eyes.

”We ain’t done nothing wrong! You’re just holding us up! You’re a bandit! Yeah, you! You’re-!”

Celes punched him straight in the nose. She heard a sickening crunch beneath her knuckles as he cried out in pain. She grabbed him by the shoulder and half-spun him onto the ground. He fell heavily, cradling his face and cursing.

”We didn’t do nothing! It’s not what it looks like! You stupid whore!”

Celes pressed her blade beneath his chin, locking the other man in a fierce look. ”Leave,” she said. When they didn’t move, she raised her voice. ”Get out of here!”

That did it. They let out a squeak of fear and scurried away, half running and half crawling until they were nearly out of sight. Celes sighed. Should she have shown them that kind of mercy? She didn’t know, but she wasn’t one to kill a man while he was down.

She sheathed her sword. ”Are you alright?” A light wind rustled at her hair and cape. She felt goosebumps burst from the skin exposed from her leotard and armor. This road had once led to mines outside of Sonora. It wasn’t exactly the most balmy of places.

”I’m glad I caught up,” she said as she started towards the cart. Inside was a man dressed in white. He had a strange outfit littered with buckles and belts and so many layers that she could hardly make sense of it all. Still, that was hardly worth her attention. He wasn’t a sentient rat knight after all.

”Here, let me help you.” She climbed into the cart and knelt beside him, reaching for his bound ankles. ”Men like that...I can’t stand them. Maybe I should have killed them after all.” She smiled wryly. ”Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

ulla

Caius followed. She knew he would, but she’d hoped he wouldn’t.

She needed silence. She needed space. She wouldn’t have run otherwise, and even now she kept at a brisk pace, eyes ahead. She wanted to be home. She hoped Relm wouldn’t ask questions.

”You didn’t do anything.” It was true in its own sense. This was on her. This was her fault and she was almost certainly imagining things. Still, between the ball and the men and Caius, she couldn’t think straight. She needed to scream.

”I want to get out of this dress.” She slowed to a stop. ”I want to let my hair down, and I want-” She let out a frustrated noise and ripped off her mask so hard the cord snapped. Beneath it was her makeup, carefully applied. Black mascara. Smoky eyeliner. Blushed cheeks and red lips. She wanted to run it down her sleeve -- if she had one. This wasn’t her. It wasn’t-

”I’m going home,” she said. ”I can walk myself. I’ll see you in the morning.” She pushed her hair behind her ear and started walking. Was it fair to Caius? No. None of this was. Her feelings were her own responsibility and no one else’s. Still…

What had he been thinking? Saying something like that? ’You’re happy. That’s all I care about.’ It wasn’t inherently wrong, but the way he said it...

He knew how she felt, didn’t he? He knew how she was. He should have known better. Or should he have? She’d been vulnerable already. Uncomfortable. Nervous. What had she seen, really? Nothing. She’d seen nothing. She was acting unfairly to him. She was hurting him, wasn’t she? So why was she still walking? Why didn’t she want to apologize?

She needed space. Even if it meant hurting him for now, she needed it or she’d hurt him all the more. She’d take her space until she could get her thoughts straight, and then maybe she’d take it a little longer. If he stayed near her, she’d likely cry. She’d yell at him and blame him, and oh she hated the thought! She needed space. Just space, and then…

Then maybe everything would make sense.

ulla