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year 5, quarter 3
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Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Caius spoke of kings and monster hunting and having something to believe in. It was something that Celes could understand, or at least halfway understand. She’d never met someone that could rally her with inspiration using only words and the only monarch she’d served had been a power-hungry maniac in the end. Still, there was something familiar about his story at the root of it all. They’d both been forced to grow up far too fast.
The cart shook violently as the wheels snagged on the uneven country road. Celes braced herself against it, biting her tongue as Caius turned to look at her. ”If you could go back to your world right now, would you?"
Perhaps it was the rattling of the cart that sharpened her tongue as she snapped, ”That’s a little personal, isn’t it?” After a moment, the wheels settled and she took a breath, thinking. If she could go back, what would she do? She’d been set on finding the others, rallying them from their hopeless states, and...then what?
Charging into a twisted tower constructed by a mad god? Facing him down like they stood a chance? It was a suicide mission, she’d always known that, but there had been nothing else to do. She and the others were the only ones with magicite. They were the only ones that knew Kefka’s true nature. But had she really expected them to make a difference?
No. Just like Celes had been determined to die with dignity in that dungeon under South Figaro, she’d been just as determined not to languish in that ruined world without a say in the matter. She’d rather have died than admitted humiliating defeat and that was all there was to it.
”Maybe,” Celes relented after a moment, looking off into the hardened tree branches. There had been nothing like this left of her world. No trees. No birds chirping in the canopy above them. When she’d awoken here, she thought it must have all been a dream. None of this was possible. And yet…
She'd been here longer than she could say, and the dream had never ended. Even if this was all an illusion, would she honestly have preferred the hell she’d left?
”Or maybe not. I don’t know.” Celes’ eyebrows furrowed under the weight of her own decision. Her answer didn’t matter and really, Caius wasn’t entitled to one at all, yet Celes wanted to decide. Some part of her had been asking that same question for a long time.
”I...guess I wouldn't.” She sun glistened like fairy lights through the leafy canopies, and she admired them sadly. ”None of this would be possible where I left. It was...well. Hopeless if I’m being honest. And then I came here. For the longest time I thought I must have gone crazy or maybe this was all just a sick illusion. But either way, I don’t think I’d give it up anymore. Going back to that now...I couldn’t even imagine.”
Celes bit her tongue. Just the thought of it stirred something dark within her. If she were to wake up and find herself back. If all of this truly had been a hopeful dream then she didn’t know if she would be able to survive that loss. Not again.
”But you probably think I’m being ridiculous! I haven’t met another person here who isn’t desperate to go back! Even I miss it sometimes, though only for the people. And if I keep finding them here then eventually I’ll have nothing left to miss.” Celes gave a short, half forced laugh through her own tension. She didn’t need to darken her mood anymore than was necessary. ”I think I’d have a lot more I could make of things here. That’s all.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
”C-Celes…?”
Relm looked up in shock and their eyes met. Celes stood there, frozen as Relm reached out to her. Her face went red. And then her eyes watered and filled with tears.
”Oh! Oh no…” was all Celes could say before the girl was running towards her. Thin arms clinging to her waist in a death grip and Celes stiffened, staring down at her in stunned horror.
What was she supposed to do now?
”Celes! Your here! I... I couldn't find anyone... No matter where I looked!”
Relm trembled against her stomach and Celes felt her shirt dampen with tears. Celes gaped at her for a moment before awkwardly patting at the girl’s back. ”Oh. Yes. I’m...here.” She found herself glancing around for help, but there was no one around but curious bystanders slowing to watch the spectacle. There was no Terra. No Strago. No Sabin. Only Celes and a crowd full of gawking strangers.
Oh god, what was she supposed to do with a crying child?
Relm finally, mercifully released her, but the sight of her tear-stained face wasn’t any better. ”"I... Don't know Celes. The last thing I remember before getting lost... Wherever this is was arguing with Strago. Then I walked out of Thamasa and... Everything got fuzzy and I just... Woke up in the middle of some forest. I kept wandering on my own till I got here.”
”You’re new then?” The words finally found their way to her tongue as she latched onto something she knew how to talk about. ”That’s a relief! Well, not a relief, but…” Relm still looked upset. Something about Strago? Celes opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she found nothing else. Silence was better than whatever nonsense she’d spill if left to her own devices.
”Celes umm…” Now it was Relm’s turn to look uncomfortable. ”But why are you here? For that matter where exactly is 'here?' I haven't really... Asked"
”Oh! Well, I don’t really. Know. I’ve been here for a while. I don’t know how long, but long enough to lose track of time at any rate. I just woke up in a forest somewhere. Just like you. I don’t know why…”
Unless nothing was real. Her breath chilled at the thought she hadn’t entertained in months. Unless it was all just an illusion. Unless what she’d seen in that damned forest wasn't a dream and they were all just victims of the sadistic toying of a mad god…
”But I’m sure we’ll find out eventually. This place isn’t terrible anyway. Not compared to what we left.” Celes’ smile was bitter. Dry with the dust of lost trauma. ”Do you have somewhere to stay? And where’s Strago? He usually doesn’t leave you alone.” She blinked again, lungs going cold for a different reason now. She hadn’t met anyone who’d been brought here with someone else, and if Relm was truly alone…
Then there was no one but Celes to care for her.
”Well," Celes tried to steady herself, but it just came out uncertain and a little tense. "We’ll figure something out.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Celes had no idea what was happening.
The two men were talking like she wasn’t even there, going on about history and families and some kind of betrayal that sounded vaguely dark? Honestly, Celes couldn’t follow it, and after a moment, she became far more interested in the terrible, vaguely human creatures around them than in anything they were saying. She only stiffened when she heard her name, but that was temporary as her eyebrows raised incredulously.
”I honestly couldn’t care less who he is,” she said, eyeing him in disbelief. ”I have no idea what you’re talking about and we’re really not that close. He only shielded me from that fall after he pushed me off a cliff so. I’m not particularly fond of him right now.”
Still, they went on. Celes had never heard anyone drone on as much as this so-called necromancer, and honestly Celes only let him continue because his words seemed to matter to Caius. It was only when the man started in about the entire history of his family that Celes leaned into Caius and muttered, ”Can we kill him yet?” The old man kept going without hearing her so she added, ”He’s completely distracted. I doubt he’d even notice!”
Apparently it had some meaning to Caius though because he let the necromancer go on. And on. Celes eyed the make of the cages, wondering if she could kill the wretched things with magic so they wouldn’t have to fight them. From what she overheard, she guessed that this man had some kind of vengeance against Caius’ family? And that he’d tried to kill some King because of it? Celes didn’t really know nor care what it all meant, though it struck her as odd that the man had bothered to bring her into this at all. What was she supposed to be scandalized about? That his family had wronged another family that was dabbling in dark arts?
Celes stood by her original statement. She really couldn’t have cared less.
Finally, a gunshot put a merciful end to the man’s speech. The old man seemed somehow surprised to see a gun aimed in his direction. Celes only wondered why it had taken so long. ”You left yourself open,” Caius said, and Celes nearly laughed at the most obvious thing she’d ever heard.
”You think?” she said before sliding into position behind him. ”Can we kill him now? Before he starts talking again?” The fact that a bullet had barely phased him didn’t bother her. She’d seen plenty of monsters and men shrug off bolts from Edgar’s crossbow like it was nothing. ”Do you think magic or a sword would work better? Let’s try both at once. I’d rather not waste time.”
Still, the man continued. He even had the sheer gall to chastise them for interrupting! Celes quietly seethed behind Caius as she contemplated just ending it without him. ”Does he think he’s on a stage?” Celes pretended to mutter, but called out quite clearly over the man’s words. ”We’re here to kill him and he’s playing like an actor!”
The dark mage called forth some kind of chilling magic (why hadn’t they just attacked him before he’d had the chance?) and brought up something else from a pool of shadows on the ground. As it rose, Celes saw a vaguely humanoid shape, something different from the dry husks outside. No, this creature (this corpse?) dripped with something black and wet and altogether vile. Celes shivered, staring at the thing, and it stared back with its dead-eyed, human face half consumed by pulsing black. Despite her own frustrations, Celes didn't want to go anywhere near it.
There was a snap and the cages opened. Celes shook her head, trying to bite back that terrible sense of unease before she shoved her hands together and started on a spell. She left the corrupted one for Caius and aimed her wrath instead on the dark mage behind him. Her spell came quickly in a fierce cry.”Blizzaga!” The air chilled so thoroughly that Celes could barely suppress a shiver even as the same magic pulsed through her blood. Half of a glacier shot around the mage's feet and then encased him in a block of ice that shattered around him like glass.
With that done, Celes pulled her sword to help with the dark creatures if needed and to protect against any magic the dark mage might throw. If he was truly reliant on spells and monsters then she doubted he’d come charging in with a blade drawn. Then again, if he summoned any more of them, she’d need to use her magic just to reach him.
”How are you doing, Caius? Because I’m more than ready to kill him!”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Caius smiled at her. ”No. No you can’t,” he said and climbed into the chocobo cart. He steadied himself before offering a hand which she took with only a second’s hesitation. The touch made her bite back a grimace, but it was only fair when her armor might have thrown off her balance. With the small step cleared, Celes quickly withdrew her hand and settled beside him, crossing her arms as she looked out at the city.
”I’ll be honest, I thought you were just renting the chocobos. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden them like this before.” She glanced at him before looking away again. ”I guess it might get a little uncomfortable on them if you plan to go far.” The ride on a chocobo had never bothered her much no matter the distance, but she’d heard enough complaining from her friends that she didn’t need to guess the motivation.
The chocobos started forward and the cart jerked into motion. Celes grit her teeth against the unstable motions. She’d have far preferred to ride one directly.
”You've never told me where you come from,” Caius said without looking up from the reigns. ”I only know you and Terra come from another world. Is that something you're comfortable with sharing?"
”Well…” Comfortable was a strong word. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to know, but rather… ”It’s not something I like to talk about.”
Celes recrossed her arms, shifting in her seat as the cart left the city and started off into drizzled forests. She pushed back a lock of loose hair that had come loose from her bandanna. ”Magic is rare where I come from. In fact, only a handful of Magi still live, and the rest of the world...Well, magic is more a legend than a fact. I was given an injection of it when I was a girl. And then I worked my way up to become a general in the Geystahlian Empire.”
That was the easiest part to talk about. Not the fire and the ruin at the hands of a mad god, but the world before that. Even as her stomach twisted with a vague sense of shame.
”The Empire. Well, I never questioned it much. I worked so hard to reach my rank that I never stopped to ask if what we were doing was cruel. The rest of the world lived in fear of us as we worked our way from kingdom to kingdom. It wasn’t until I found myself on the wrong end of its sword that I turned against them. I would have gladly accepted my death then -- I thought it was undignified to resist -- but someone found me locked away in a dungeon in South Figaro and he wouldn’t hear any of it. He was one of the rebels, a Returner they called themselves, and I worked with them after that.”
For a while. Her throat closed on the words she couldn’t say. For a while. Until the Emperor approached her with his deepest apologies and his most comforting words. Until he’d agreed to lock Kefka away and move for world peace. She hadn’t known it was a lie, but that only an excuse. She’d wanted to go back. After everything they’d done. That was all there was to it.
”What about you?” She eyed the tangled knots of trees they passed. There bark twisted in all the wrong ways as it reached towards the sky in a suffocating canopy. ”You haven’t said much about yourself either.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
People made her itch.
Celes was a long way from her time back in Provo with another strong young man with a sword. She was a long way from constantly glancing up at the sky, her shoulders tense as she couldn’t help but wait for a seering flash from the wrath of a mad god. She was a long way from twitching every time someone came up too close, and she didn’t have to be armed at every second of the day now. Yes, Celes had come along way since she’d first woken on this confusing and impossible world.
But still, people made her itch.
She gave herself the widest berth from the crowd that she could manage, staying to the sidelines rather than going straight in. Her arms were crossed, her expression tense as she tried to keep her lips from thinning whenever anyone passed too close. She eyed her target carefully -- a market stall carrying potions and antidotes and all manner of magical supplies that Celes wouldn’t need personally, but that might be helpful if a certain other sword user ever ran low. There were five men crowded around it and all manner of others crossing before her like a river current. She’d waited for at least ten minutes already, hoping that the men would pass, but every time one left another would take his place. Celes steadied herself with a long breath.
In order to reach it, she would have to touch someone.
She ducked in carefully, longing all the time for her armor and pauldrons and sword instead of her usual yellow civilian’s clothes. She danced carefully around the incoming crowd, sliding her shoulders every time anyone moved too close, until finally she was standing before the market stall and slid sideways into the only small space available. She knew what she wanted, but she pretended to examine the potions anyway until the shopkeeper had a moment to help her. Her back felt terribly vulnerable.
A heavy hand fell on her shoulder. Celes made a high pitched noise and moved to throw it off, but it wouldn’t fall so easily and she hadn’t brought her sword. Instead, she turned to face it, hands up and threaded for a spell. Its owner -- a towering, mountain of a man armed with an axe hanging from his hip -- blinked in surprise. ”Do you need any help with that?” he asked. ”I doubt a lady like you has much experience with it.”
Celes took a slow breath through her nose. ”I’m fine,” she said and then glanced at the hand on her shoulder. After a long pause, the man removed it.
”Well that’s a standard potion,” the man went on unbidden. ”And those are your softs. That’s for petrification. And that’s a-”
”That’s a high-potion,” Celes finished for him. ”And an antidote there. An elixir over the counter, and an ether to the right. I’ve done this before.”
”Oh.” The man faltered before fixing her with an appreciative smile. ”Your husband must be a lucky man.”
Celes felt her eye twitch. The merchant finally reached her and she threw her money at him, grabbing her items before he even had the time to count her gil as she turned on her heel and stormed off, not caring that she shouldered three people on her way out.
People made her itch.
She was so driven by the hot frustration behind her throat that she didn’t notice how the crowd twisted to avoid a small figure standing among them. In fact, she barely glanced up as she heard the girl shout. She saw a small stature, blonde hair, loose pink pants, and…
Celes froze where she stood, stumbling forward as someone shoved into her from behind and then cursed her for stopping so suddenly. That girl! But no, it couldn’t be!
She slipped to the side without apologizing, ducking forward to get a better look at her. And there she was. A young girl no older than twelve adorned with scarves and beads and an odd hat that was far too big for her. She was alone, just like they’d found her in that terrible house full of paintings, but Celes was certain it was her just like she would have recognized Terra or Edgar or Locke. The name came to her in a gasp as she stood there, watching her in shock.
”Relm?” She touched at her lip, eyes wide. ”What are you doing here?”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
The atmosphere was unrelenting. They delved deeper and deeper into darkness as suffocating as the smell. They held their flames like an amulet against the shadows so they wouldn’t be swallowed whole by the cold and the damp. The air smelled of death and stale must rotting in fetid water. Whatever lurked here did not wish to be awakened.
Caius stopped abruptly and Celes stopped behind him. In front of them, the path simply fell away. The chasm beneath it could have been five feet or twenty; it was impossible to say.
”Blast.” Caius knelt down to get a better look. ”I can see the way forward, but it's at the far end of what looks to be a bottomless cavern.”
”You can?” Celes tilted forward and squinted to get a better view, but it was all too shrouded in shadows for her to pick out anything in particular. Was there something across the way? She couldn’t tell and wondered how he could.
Caius took a step back, touching at his chin thoughtfully as he mused that maybe the source had merely left by now. He didn’t finish the words before they both froze at the sound of something banging about below them. Something alive, or close enough to it. Celes glanced at him in alarm. ”You think that’s…?” she started, but he was already cursing.
”That's where they're coming from. Sod it all.” He paused thoughtfully, looking down into the chasm. When he turned to her, his expression lacked any of its usual carelessness. His voice was low, humorless, and imploring. ”Listen, Celes, I can get us down there. But it's going to be risky. Very risky. And maybe a bit scary. I can get us across, alive, with my powers. But you have to trust me.”
He held out his hand, and Celes hesitated as she looked between his hand and his eyes. How much did she trust him? Enough to take his hand without explanation? The task seemed impossible, but then, he wasn’t one to go running off on suicide missions, and he wasn’t one to put lives in danger. Did she trust him? There were very few people she would with something like this, and yet…
What would happen if he went on alone? Would he die in the cold and the dark, wandering lost? Would he run into something even more terrible than the undead behind them? Would he be overwhelmed by their power and crawl away, bleeding without someone to heal him? Celes bit the inside of her cheek, stomach churning at the thought.
Whatever he was going to do was less terrifying than the thought of letting him die.
”I trust you.” She held out her hand cautiously, taking his with a hesitance that had nothing to do with the chasm below them. ”And I don’t want you going alone. You say you work best like that, but I don’t believe it. I’d hate myself if I turned back now.” She tried weakly for a smile, but that quickly faded as he grabbed her and started moving her around beside him without so much as a warning. ”Hey!” It came out more as a startled yelp though she quickly found her own sharp tongue. ”What are you doing? I didn’t say you could-!” He flung her onto his back and wordlessly tried to arrange her arms around him. Celes felt her lips thin as heat rose to her cheeks. "Well you could have asked,” she said before grasping him like he’d wanted. He let go of her and left her to hang like a monkey from his shoulders.
He tilted himself backwards and forth, walking around in preparation, and Celes felt her own embarrassment rise with every second. He still hadn’t explained himself. Still hadn’t apologized or asked her permission. And while she’d taken his hand, that didn’t mean she wanted to be lugged over his shoulders like a backpack and that didn’t mean she wanted to be touched.
You could have asked. The mantra played again and again as Caius tested his balance. She would have agreed if given warning. But without it, his force felt inconsiderate. Like she was nothing but an object or a child to be dealt with. She knew him well enough to guess that wasn’t his intention, but still…
Her fingernails dug into her own skin as she clung to him. It was all she could do to keep herself from recoiling from him in unease.
Suddenly Caius was running and it was all Celes could do to tighten her grip and bite her tongue to keep from yelling. She bobbed up and down as he ran, and her stomach fell a moment before she realized what he was about to do. ”What are you-?” she started.
And then they were falling.
Celes couldn’t help the sounds that came out of her mouth. She couldn’t help but to scream and clutch him in a death grip that might have been strangling. She’d expected him to do something, but not this. Not jumping into the abyss like some kind of maniac. Her stomach jammed into her throat as time seemed to slow and her head went dizzy with vertigo. She was falling. Falling...
The boards of the airship exploded around in splinters of wood and engine grease. She saw it floating above her, but no. They were all falling. Falling as fire consumed the world beneath them. Falling as the island above her was engulfed in blinding light. Falling until-
Her stomach jerked as a light consumed them and suddenly they were shooting forward like a missle. Celes let out a renewed scream as gravity lost its meaning and they lurched sickeningly towards the opposite wall. She hadn’t seen it before, but she could sure see it now, illuminated in ethereal blue and coming faster towards by the second.
”Fuck!” Caius’ shout only added to hers as she tried to find words but couldn’t. There was only panic as he grasped at her and tore her grip away. She was suspended in midair, held there only by Caius who wrapped his arms tightly around her as she clawed for anything she could get ahold of. They were falling again, or were they? Celes didn’t know which was up but she knew there was force taking hold of her and that any second they’d-
The stone hit them the broad side of a train. Celes felt her breath give way as there was a sickening crunch beneath her and she rolled away from Caius’ grip. For a moment, she could only lay there, dazed, as her mind caught up and her body pulsed with pain. Then she had her first thought -- I’m not dead. She stirred, moving each of her limbs in turn before slowly pushing herself upright. Her ribs protested every movement, but she didn’t feel them straining. Nothing was broken.
Her breath was staggered. Her hands, shaking. She wanted to grab her head and scream, but the time for that was done. Instead, she felt like there was something she’d forgotten. Something important. She bit her tongue until it came to her in a gust of anger that was thrust forward by the full force of her panic.
”Are you crazy?” Her voice high with her own hysterics. ”Why didn’t you warn me? Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to-...to-” Celes’ voice broke and she pushed herself straighter. ”Just because I said I trusted you didn’t mean you could push me off a cliff!” Celes shoved her face into her hands and tried to find her breath again. She breathed in and then out slowly several times as she forced back a high-pitched noise that she doubted would be dignified.
She was alive. She told herself that again as she lowered her hands and tried to force herself upright. She winced at the sharp pain in her chest and upper back, but kept going until she was on her feet again. ”You had no right to grab me like that,” she said, her voice still shaking. ”You had no right to do that without telling me. You...You…” She saw him then, staggering unsteadily on his feet and grabbing at the back of his head. Her eyes widened. ”You’re hurt.”
He reached inside his bag and pulled out a flask, tossing it her way first. She caught it on instinct but didn’t even look at it as she watched him struggle inside the back again. ”I can help,” she started. ”You don’t have to-,” but he’d already another potion and uncorked it with his thumb. He downed it in a second before attempting to straighten himself.
”Are you alright?” he asked and Celes just stared at him. ”Once you've gotten your bearings, we'll continue on. Odds are, we're running out of time so we need to hurry."
”Am I…?” Celes repeated slowly before giving him a look she wished could be sharper. ”Enough about me, what about you? You were holding your head! A potion won’t fix a concussion. Let me help you.”
She didn’t wait for him to protest or agree. Instead, she shoved her fingers together, muttered her spell, and cast curaga on him in a flash of healing light. Then she took the potion he’d thrown her, swished it back so she could barely taste the bitterness of it on her tongue, and touched a light cure spell to her own wounds. She was bruised, that was for sure. And battered. And aching, but she’d be fine. Caius on the other hand…
Well, hurting himself to keep her from the brunt of the fall wouldn’t fix everything between them. She still had harsh words for another time. How could he expect her to trust him when he didn’t communicate?
”You could have gotten us both killed,” she said without looking at him. ”I could have helped. I have magic. But you didn’t ask me.” She bit her tongue. That was enough for now. ”Let’s just get this over with.”
In all her panic, Celes had almost forgotten about the echoing noises and the stench of death. She noticed it now, but it felt dulled somehow. Unreal. Maybe she just didn’t have the energy to spend worrying about it. After what had already happened, she just felt tired.
”Celes.” Caius stopped in front of her and Celes followed suit. ”Ready yourself. I don’t know what awaits us ahead, but odds are it’s going to be a far greater challenge than we were expecting going into this.”
”Right.” Celes took a breath and tried to ready herself. She knew she wasn’t in the right mindset, but her thoughts wouldn’t come as sharp as she wanted them to. Breathe. She took a long breath and squared her stance. Just like you always practiced. Don’t think. Just move. Celes nodded and glanced to Caius. She was ready. Or as ready as she’d ever be.
Celes stepped through the final passage only to find...a laboratory?
It looked more like something out of Vector than what she’d expect at the bottom of a cavern in the middle of nowhere. There were cages hung all around the stone ceiling, some of them lining the ground, and all of them full of odd monsters that seemed shrouded in shadow. Celes stared at them, too captivated by their terrifying appearance to notice that they weren’t alone. Before them was a dark looking man shrouded by a cape and holding a staff. He raised it, magic swarmed about him, and deathly fingers burst from the earth. Celes stared at it as Caius whispered in horror.
”Fucking hell...”
Celes didn't know what those monsters were, but they'd taken such a toll on Caius that Celes couldn't help a twinge of fear. What could possibly hav affected him so much?
Then the man turned. He looked about the same as Celes would have imagined. Old. Grizzled. Graying. But the sight of him had a completely different effect on Caius. He froze where he stood, stuttering to himself as his eyes widened in sudden realization. Celes shot him a look of concern but never truly took her eyes of the foreboding man. ”Caius?”
“You,” Caius started before jerking forward with his sword in hand. ”You were the assassin after King Noctis the day I was sent here!”
”What?”
”You know me, yes,” the man growled. ”But I also know you. I know you very, very well. Caius. Ignis. Dragelion.”
”You know each other?”
Celes felt like she was falling over again. She glanced between the two men, eyebrows raised incredulously as she kept her hand on her sword. ”Who is he? Is he the one behind the undead? Caius?”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Their fire illuminated the dark in the worst way. Celes wished she didn’t have to see the burning flesh, the slack jaws, the sunken eyes. She wished she didn’t have to watch them flail through the flames, wailing in that ghastly way of theirs. She wished she could end it faster, but there wasn’t enough space for a stronger spell and she’d never learned the third level for fire. The undead came in a stumbling wave, trudging over the ashes of the fallen. Celes’ incantations weren’t quick enough to keep up with them all. As one swiped its arm far too close for comfort, Celes pulled her sword, slashing back through shriveled skin and sinew. Her throat convulsed in disgust.
"Celes! How are you holding up?"
Caius’ voice was like a rope thrown into darkness. Celes slashed at the zombie again, kicking it away before backing up to gain distance. There were too many of them moving far too fast.
”Cover me!” She yelled as she stabbed at another that pushed past the first. ”I can’t get a spell in!” Her sword wasn’t effective, but it was all she had at such a close range. If she could just get in another few waves of fire…
Orange light flashed to her right. Caius. She saw the flames coat his sword, saw it slash through the shadows, and the undead flinched at its heat. Celes took that moment to shove her hands together again, muttering as she backpedaled away from them. They weren’t stunned for long. Just a second or two as Caius cut his way through the ones closest to him, and the ones past that recovered quickly. There was a hiss, a slash, and jagged fingernails dragged across the metal of her pauldron. At the same time, her magic stirred and erupted from her hands.
The heat was almost unbearable. Fire burst from the ones closest to her, only a few inches away, and Celes let out a cry of surprise as she stumbled away from it. It singed at her hair and the dry skin of her cheeks and she watched almost in horror at the results of her own work. Seeing them like this would never get easier.
With Caius cutting down the ones who swarmed up close, Celes focused her efforts past them, casting without losing her concentration and thinning their back lines. Within a few minutes, their fire died down to embers and the cave was silent again with only ash and the lingering smell of burnt flesh as reminder of the horrors there.
”I think that’s all of them.” Celes voice wavered in a way that she didn’t like. Her head was still spinning, her knees still weak. That smell…
She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about that, even as she felt her own anxiety well up in her lungs. Now wasn’t the time. Not now.
”Why were there…?” she started and then cleared her throat. ”Why were there so many of them?” The implications were horrifying. How many people had died here and how had they been raised again? The undead that Celes had fought before...Those had all been the doings of a mad god, but here…
What could possibly have caused this?
”I think we need to look deeper.” Celes looked to Caius seriously. She didn’t want to keep moving forward. No, every part of her wanted to flee back to the cool night air so she could breathe freely as she curled her knees to her chest and suffocated memories she didn’t want to linger on. But if something was raising the dead…
”Whatever happened here, it wasn’t good and I doubt that’s all of them. We need to stop it at its source. Whatever this is.” Celes looked down to consider the glowing pile of embers at her feet. Her eyes softened. ”We can’t just leave it like this.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Celes bit her tongue as Caius led them through the streets. She wasn’t certain exactly where he would take her, and with her mind already wandering, she didn’t pay much attention to their route. Caius’ words still hung around her, and she hadn’t known how to respond. He’d told her that he’d had to work to survive -- a harsh existence that did nothing for his social skills. Celes wondered as to that and to what kind of world he’d escaped. Part of her wanted to chime in, to tell her of her own damage and the destruction she’d seen, but that felt abrupt. Awkward. And far too real.
Instead, she considered his opinions on Setzer. Celes hadn’t painted the most flattering picture of him, had she? Then again, if she’d told Caius anything else, his opinion would only be lower. He wasn’t keeping her cooped up somewhere because she kept running off rather than stick with an old friend. Why was that? Wasn’t that what she’d wanted? Or was it something else all along?
Celes smelled the straw before she saw the stables. Chocobos. Of course that’s where he’d take her.
”Decided since it's a bit of a trek, and there'll be two of us, it'd be better for us to take transportation,” Caius explained and Celes nodded her agreement though she couldn’t help but ask, ”Do we have the money?” She glanced at the sign and the rustic smelling stables and shifted slightly. She didn’t know how much a bird cost here, and she hadn’t thought to rent one on this world before. Still, she doubted Caius would have brought them here if wasn’t prepared so Celes let it go for now.
”About what you said…” she started instead. Celes bit the inside of her cheek as she searched for the right words. ”You’re right about Setzer. He’s never exactly been my type. I guess that’s why I keep running off, but you take what you can get when you’re in need of a familiar face.” Celes glanced at Caius and then shoved her hair behind her shoulder and looked determinedly at the sign for the chocobo ranch. ”I doubt I’ll stay there much longer, actually,” she said without looking at him. ”Of course, it helps to know I can stop by if I’m feeling lost, but he’s always put me off. He’s one of those men. The kind I talked about before.” Her cheeks heated. Why was she reminding him of her outburst? ”Always trying to coddle me when he’s not sidling up to win my affection like it’s one of his games of chance. I’d never have met him in the first place if the situation hadn’t called for it, and I certainly wouldn’t have stuck by him.”
Celes paused, clearing her throat before adding, ”Anyway. I just wanted to...Well, I mean. Thank you. For thinking of me. This kind of work helps to clear my head.” She glanced at Caius and gave him a wry smile. ”I guess you can never really take the fight out of a soldier, can you?”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Much to her displeasure, it seemed everyone agreed to search the basement. Caius certainly did at any rate and the other two didn’t protest. Caius lit a fire in his hand before pausing thoughtfully. ”I think. That this house might be host to a few…” He held the flame beneath his chin, casting his cheeks in underlit shadows. ”Ghooooosts!”
Celes gave him a look. A long, hard, incredulous look through half-lidded eyes. ”Really.” She eyed him humorlessly before Terra had attached herself to Celes’ arm and they both swayed unsteadily on the heels of their boots.
"C-celes! Ghosts aren't real, are they? C-caius is just trying to scare us, right?" Terra’s fingers dug into Celes’ arm so hard she swore she’d bruise the next day, and Celes could do nothing but shoot Caius the sharpest look she could manage while half-tackled and holding a handful of fire.
”Was that really necessary?” she spat at him, but he was already chuckling under his breath.
”Nah, we're probably fine. Might as well try downstairs. The answers to these haunted house mysteries always seem to be downstairs."
”See, Terra? It’s nothing,” Celes added as she continued to glare daggers at Caius. Terra still hadn’t let go of her arm.
”O-okay.....b-but if there are any b-bugs I'm burning the place down!" Terra’s voice was still quivering. Celes cast her a cautious look.
”Please don’t,” she said. ”We’re inside after all. I’d rather not die if I can help it.” Celes suppressed a sigh, and instead only cast an uncertain glance to Caius who she hoped would support her. This place was certainly packed with bugs from the walls to the floorboards to the cracks in the ceiling. If their survival depended on Terra staying clear of them then they were all doomed.
The blonde boy, Prompto, was already starting down the stairs and Celes supposed they should follow. She glanced at Terra warily before leading her after them. While Terra might feel more comfortable in the back, it was probably best that they stay in the middle so she wouldn’t be startled by anything from behind. She tried to keep her voice steady as they started carefully down groaning steps, listening to the sound of Prompto’s boots only a few paces before them.
”Actually, I think that Sabin said something about seeing ghosts once. I wouldn’t put much faith into it except that Cyan agreed and they both said that Shadow would have too if he ever bothered talking. Some kind of haunted train, I think? They said it was headed towards the afterlife…” Celes didn’t know why she was telling them this except that it helped to drown out the sounds of creaking wood. She didn’t know why, but it made her hair stand on end. Maybe it was getting colder? ”But even then, I doubt it would be anything to worry about,” she went on, stepping carefully as she went so as not to twist her ankle in the darkness. ”I mean, if Sabin could handle himself then that means they’re not immune to punching at least.”
Her feet found even ground and she stepped forward, looking around through the dim light. She couldn’t see far, but they appeared to be in some kind of wine cellar. Nothing particularly interesting, though Celes noted the frenzied legs of a spider ducking for cover behind a dusted bottle as their firelight reached it. No, it seemed they’d find nothing down here but bottles, dust, and insects, at least until-
CREAK
Celes jumped and spun around, expecting to see Caius at the stairs, but no. He was already standing beside her. She glanced between him and the stairs, already reaching for her sword. ”What was tha-?”
BOOM
Celes stiffened at the sudden explosion of sound above them. She couldn’t tell what the source was, but her sword was already in front of her, waiting for whatever had followed them down. There was another creak after it and then a second crash of traumatized and shattered wood. Celes backed away from the stairs, staying instinctively in front of Terra as she waited for the monstrous, looming thing to emerge from the darkness.
It never did. As the cellar finally faded to silence they were left with nothing but shadows and a staircase that, upon closer inspection, seemed to be completely collapsed. ”How…?” Celes stared at the ruined stairs -- their only course of retreat. ”What…?”
”Mommy is gonna be so upset you're down here."
The voice came from nowhere, a whisper on wind directly behind her. Celes spun around, eyes darting, fingers tense. What was that? Where-? Was someone there?
The bottles exploded. There was no cause for them. No obvious culprit. They all just exploded like short-fusing circuits in a dying mech. Celes heard herself cry out in alarm, felt her hands fly up in a flinch, heard the rushing of spilled wine onto the floor as it splashed about her boots. Then there came a snarl from the opposite corner.
What now? Celes honestly wasn’t expecting to see anything there. After everything that had already happened, what else would try to play tricks on her? But no. This at least she could see, and if she could see it, she could fight it. She felt her fingers steady as she turned towards the horde of writhing, bloodshot rats that was already rushing towards them.
This she could handle.
There was a pop as Prompto fired a gun into the air. A flare. It lit the room instantly, and suddenly Celes wondered what she’d been so afraid of. Without all the shadows and the darkness, there was only a bare wine cellar covered in grime, and only a multitude of rats rushing towards them. Celes let out a steadying breath as she brought her fingers together. ”Blizzara,” her spell came as a whisper. The air chilled, cracked, and then burst in a sudden freeze that jutted into the approaching wave of no doubt plague-ridden rodents. With her spell cast, Celes steadied her sword again, ready to take any that might reach her before suddenly freezing in realization.
They were in a confined space. Without escape. Surrounded by wood and loose alcohol.
”Don’t use fire!” she called to Terra. ”It might kill us all!”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Why was it always Caius?
Celes didn’t know how and she didn’t know why, but somehow she’d taken to spending more time out traipsing through dark holes than back in Torensten with her supposed friend these days. In fact, she spent more time with Caius than anyone else lately, and that fact alone was enough to astound her into silence. How was it that time after time he’d managed to convince her to follow him into the middle of nowhere or into half-decayed haunted mansions or to stand face to face against a damned behemoth? Why was it that she always agreed?
Glancing at him, she couldn’t help but acknowledge his comforting familiarity with a blade, his confidence as he stood there straight-backed and peering into the darkness. He had a kind of commanding presence not too dissimilar to Celes’ own -- at least when he wasn’t completely baffled by social norms.
Not unlike herself. Again. Celes bit her own lip to stifle a sigh.
The cave that Caius had dragged them was certainly something else. It was in the middle of nowhere (naturally) by some temple that Celes had heard of only in rumors. Caius had told her that a man warned of undead in a place like this, and if nothing else this looked like the kind of place where corpses would gather. Even with Caius’ small flame, she couldn’t see much more than a few feet in front of them in flickering and unsteady shadows.
Then came the smell.
Celes stopped in her tracks, shoving her hands over her mouth and nose as the putrid, rotting smell hit her like a brick wall. The kitchen of the Linister Manor had nothing on this. In hung heavy in the air, hot and musty and solid in a way that settled in her throat and nearly made her gag. Even Caius seemed affected by it as he plugged his nose before materializing that sword of his in a flash of light. Even stunned, Celes got the message and pulled her runic blade at his side.
There was silence and then a scrape of footsteps one after the other. Celes waited with her breath held, trying her best not to lose her focus in the noxious air. Then the creature lunged.
Celes didn’t see it clearly at first as Caius jumped back, his flames flickering madly as he shouted curses at the thing. Celes stepped out of range as well, trying her best to get a good glimpse at the wretched mess before them as Caius brought magic to his blade and fired off a round of flames at the thing as it screeched in pain, completely immolated in seconds as it writhed in its sickeningly human form. The smell of burning flesh mixed with the wet rot and the combination of it all was enough to make Celes head spin. Whatever it was, she saw skin flake into charcoal before her eyes and then slough off in dusty ash.
In less than a minute, it was a glowing pile of embers at their feet. Celes’ stomach churned at the sight of it.
”That was uncalled for.”
Celes tensed and swiveled around to find another human form approaching them. She raised her sword against it, but it didn’t seem hostile, and as it entered their dim light, Celes couldn’t help a small sigh of relief. It was only a man. A normal, nonaggressive man with white hair and covered in scarves. He had a kind of calm look to him that seemed entirely out of place in this rank and dismal place, but Celes wasn’t about to complain so long as he hadn’t brought them trouble.
”I assume you're another come to take this contract. While I'm not sure what this monster was exactly..." Caius waved a hand towards the ash, still hesitant from the fight. "It's quite possible that our client was correct and wasn't actually spewing garbage after all."
Celes felt something rise to her throat. ”You mean that was…?” She looked at the ash again, touching at her mouth in revulsion. What had they come here for if not to fight the undead? ”Well. It’s not the first time I’ve fought a zombie,” Celes said with what she hoped would be confidence, but came out weak with nausea. ”The world I left was full of them. At least eventually.”
’No, don’t think about that place. Not now!’
The silence was pierced by a scream. Celes froze, her body tense before she spun around to face it, sword at the ready. Caius strengthened his flame, and the light spread quickly, reaching into the shadows until it struck-
Faces. Human faces half rotted off and sagging from bloodshot eyes. For a moment, it was all Celes could do to stare at them-
Trudging along the ruined earth, baked and cracked by judgment from the sky. How many of them had been turned? How many ruined by that paralyzing hum and a flash of blazing light?
-- before Caius jerked to life beside her and she stumbled into place, nauseous and reeling. ”Celes, prepare your spells. Their skin melts easily!” Caius. Celes nodded and slid her sword back in its sheath so she could thread her fingers together instead.
”Fire’s not my strong suit!” she warned him, ”But I’ll try!”
There were footsteps, slow and shuffling, and then they charged.
Incantations. Celes muttered them on instinct, feeling her blood boil with unfamiliar heat, a blaze of warmth that did nothing to lessen her nausea. Her power flared in her hands and then trailed out in a line of flame from her fingers to a cluster of corpses before them. The fire caught at the loose skin of one then burst out in a shockwave of embers that set all adjacent flesh alight. There must have been five...no, six of them all screeching as one, arms flailing, jaws hanging open in a ghoulish scream. Celes swallowed hard and started another spell as more pushed past the others, crawling over embers to reach them.
”Fira,” she muttered again, knowing full well that she could only keep one side of them at bay. The rest she would have to entrust to Caius.
