[Final Fantasy IV] Trespass
Pairings: Kain -> Rosa, Kain/Valvalicia, Golbez/Kain
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers through Tower of Zot
Notes: Written for areyougame on IJ. Follows directly after "Soar" in the Lucis Ante Terminum arc.
Wordcount: 2700
Summary: Their forgiveness was more painful than their anger would have been.
Beta: celeloriel
Kain stood on the deck of the Crimson Fury and watched as Cecil's Enterprise rose from its resting place next to the city of Troia. Cid was piloting, while Cecil waited on the deck with the Fabul monk and the ancient sage.
Kain waited until the two ships hovered evenly with each other, and strode to the edge of the deck. "Where is the Earth Crystal?" he asked, though he could plainly see the hardened leather case that Cecil carried.
Cecil lifted the case. "Right here. And Rosa?"
Kain felt the icy pressure in the back of his mind, pinpricks of discomfort running along his nerves, as Golbez waited to see if his servant would obey. 'She is at the Tower of Zot. Follow our ship. We will take you there."
The prickling eased, and Kain breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his right hand in signal to the helmsman, who turned the airship and headed for the tower.
Valvalicia coalesced next to him out of empty air. "Humans are strange," she said.
"You have stated this previously," Kain answered. "Do you come bearing new insight into our flawed design, Empress of the Winds?" He used her title deliberately, and saw her start. She tilted her head and studied him intently.
"The human grows uppity," she said, as cold as the winds off the Mist Mountains in winter. The air temperature dropped significantly. Kain repressed a shiver.
"Does your presence here serve some purpose?" He turned to face her, to see the impact of his insolence.
He had half-expected her to attack him. Instead, she smiled. "You amuse me, Dragoon. You insult the Elemental Lords to our very faces, yet cower before Master Golbez. You jealously watch your...Rosa," and she pronounced the name as though it were something obscene. "Yet just now you could have killed the Paladin and taken the Earth Crystal, and you stood idly by and invited him into the Master's lair." She paused and turned to gaze over the mass of Troian forests spread beneath them. "Humans are strange," she said again. "You desire, but do not act. I do not understand you."
No more do I understand you, Kain thought, but did not say. "Master Golbez commanded that the Paladin be brought to him, fiend," he said instead. "Would you have me disobey him?"
She smiled. "I rather hoped you would," she said. "I do so love the sound of you screaming."
Kain turned away in disgust, only to find himself held fast by her claws on his shoulder. "Be mindful of your tongue when you speak to me," she hissed, "lest I forget that I find you an amusing toy and shred you like Fabul's prayer flags on the wind."
Kain smiled back. "Did you do so, Valvalicia, my spirit would remain to revel in your screams. Or have you forgotten that Master Golbez bid you do as you would, so long as I yet lived?"
Once again, she smiled. "You forget that I serve of choice, and not necessity."
Kain waited until she had dissolved into the brisk wind that aided their flight, and then took a deep breath.
He would go to see Rosa when they arrived. Perhaps he would even bring her some small luxury. Her gratitude brought him comfort.
Cecil's body broken upon his spear would bring him more.
Did he repeat it frequently enough, he might yet come to believe it.
Kain turned toward the Tower of Zot and forced a smile. Baron was his past. Golbez was his future. And in that future, he would reign with Rosa beside him.
The flight back to the Tower was short. Kain's pilot led Cecil's Enterprise to the lower docking bay, and then soared upward to dock the Crimson Fury at the pinnacle of the tower. Kain disembarked and went to Golbez's chambers to report.
When he arrived, Golbez was weaving magic into a reflection of the events on the Enterprise. "You will tell him to ascend," Golbez said.
"Yes, my lord." Kain took up his position, behind Golbez and to the right. He watched as Cid made certain to secure the Enterprise carefully before they all stepped ashore. He wanted to laugh at the way Cecil leaned forward as he walked, so desperately eager to reclaim his precious flower. Truly, his trusting behaviour made this too simple by far.
"Kain!" Cecil shouted, gazing around him as though he expected Kain to materialize from the crystal blocks of the tower itself.
"Where's he hidden himself?" Cid demanded.
Golbez nodded. Kain spoke. "You need not concern yourselves with that. Golbez would like to extend his personal gratitude for your cooperation in obtaining the Crystal."
"Golbez!" the old man shouted. Kain half-expected him to raise his fist and shake it impotently.
Golbez was not amused. "You have fulfilled your end of the bargain, and for that I am most grateful."
Kain shivered at the barely-contained malice in Golbez's tone. He could hear the extra note that meant Golbez was infusing his voice with magic, preying on their senses and bringing to light their fears. He fixed his eyes on the edge of Golbez's viewing spell and started to recite the names of the captains of the Dragon Knights of Baron to himself. It was a trick he used often to school himself to impassivity.
"Show yourself!" The old man was glowering fiercely.
"I understand your desire to hasten our meeting," Golbez said, and Kain shivered. There was something in Golbez's tone that was almost caressing, and it made him uneasy. "But first there is the matter of your reward."
"Reward?" The monk took up a battle stance. Kain smiled grimly. At least one of them possessed a modicum of sense.
"Your dear Rosa waits with me on this tower's highest floor," Golbez said. "Should you succeed in reaching us, I will exchange her for the Crystal as promised."
Out of the corner of his eye, Kain saw Valvalicia materialize in the corner. Golbez ignored her.
"There was nothing said of this before!" Cecil protested. Kain bit his lip to contain his laughter. Even as a dark knight, Cecil had expected naught but honesty from others. It seemed ascending Mount Ordeals had only exacerbated that trait.
"Nonetheless, you would do well to hurry. I cannot guarantee her life should you choose to do otherwise. We will be waiting." Golbez flicked his fingers and the viewing spell vanished. "Kain."
"My lord?"
"You have served me well." Golbez laid a hand on Kain's shoulder, and it seemed as though the warmth of his skin penetrated his gloves and Kain's armour alike. Kain desperately tried to direct his attention away. "You are relieved of your duties until the time comes to kill Cecil Harvey."
"Thank you, my lord." Kain sank to one knee. Strange how a gesture he had once performed so reluctantly had become so natural.
Golbez handed him a black iron key. "This will open Rosa's bindings. Do as you will with her, save only that if Cecil threatens to achieve the top of the tower, you will bind her once again. Is that clear?"
"Yes, my lord. Thank you." Kain accepted the key and rose, ignoring Valvalicia's laughter in the corner.
"Empress of the Winds," Golbez said, and Kain marked a certain deference in his tone. "Have you a report?"
Kain closed the door swiftly behind him, and made his way to his own quarters.
~*~
Rosa barely lifted her head when Kain entered the large, echoing chamber in which she was held captive. Her hair was matted and dirty, plastered to her neck in lank strands. Her white robes were covered in filth. Where her chains rubbed against her wrists and ankles, scabs and sores oozed blood slowly.
She was still the most beautiful woman Kain had ever known.
"Master Golbez has granted you a temporary reprieve," he said.
Something that might have been hope flared in her eyes. "Has Cecil come for me?"
"Cecil is dead, Rosa," Kain lied, making his tone as gentle as he could. "He drowned en route from Fabul to Baron."
She shook her head, though the effort made her sway slightly. "I would know," she insisted. "I would know if he were dead." Her words lacked their usual force. Kain wondered how much longer it would take to break her spirit.
Kain stepped closer and bent to unlock her chains. They fell away from her, but she did not move. "Can you stand, Rosa?"
It seemed to take her forever to get to her feet. Kain put a hand beneath her elbow to support her and led her slowly from the room.
The room in which he had first awakened in this tower, after the destruction of Mist, was a cell of some ten feet square. It was to this that he led her. The servants had brought clean linens and a tub of steaming water. Rosa stood in the doorway, staring about her as if dazed.
"You are not free to wander the tower," Kain told her, "but you may bathe, and rest. I will stand guard. None will disturb you."
"Kain," she said. "I can help you."
"I have no need of help. Master Golbez is a generous man," Kain said.
Rosa swayed on her feet. Kain stepped back and closed the door to the cell, locking her inside.
He took up his guard position outside the door, and deliberately directed his thoughts away from the idea of Rosa bathing.
~*~
The very air of the Tower of Zot felt abrasive against his skin from the echoes of magic. Kain resisted the urge to rub his hands over his arms in an effort to banish the scraping, crawling feeling. Normally the tower's magic was barely a hum against his skin, but for the past two days, the magic had been building to an unbearable pitch.
Cecil had come to claim Rosa.
Kain watched as Valvalicia gestured to her minions. The Magus Sisters vanished in a swirl of magic that lashed against him with the force of storm winds. If even he could feel this, how much worse was it for Rosa? She had seemed to revive slightly in the cell, but chained once more to the wall, she had wilted like a flower too long without water. Dark, bruise-like circles were vivid under her eyes, and she knelt slumped against the wall. He could not help her without freeing her, and Master Golbez had forbidden that. Instead, he hovered in a shadowed corner on the floor below, and turned his thoughts from her.
Valvalicia ran her claws over his armour. It scraped like metal on slate. He winced.
"Pathetic," she said.
"Have you no business to attend to elsewhere?"
"She knows that he lives," Valvalicia said. "She has known since you told her that he died."
"Ah, yes, and how did the Drowned King fare after losing him to the Lord of All Waters?" Kain asked softly.
Valvalicia snarled and dug her claws into the gaps in his armour until they pierced skin. Kain drew a sharp, hissing breath, but otherwise made no sound.
"Mock not my brothers," she warned him.
"Do you think to fare better against Cecil, Valvalicia? Do you think yourself so much better than Scarmiglione and Cagnozzio?"
"And what of you, Dragoon, and your little white mage toy? You find her less interesting without your otherself to measure against in your competition for her. Not so? You fear you are not bright enough on your own, to show her why she should choose you over spending the rest of her life in mourning for him."
Kain pushed her away, and she laughed. "Poor little--" Abruptly, she froze, and turned her head toward the door with an expression of disbelief. A moment later, Kain heard an echoing scream that sounded distinctly like Sandy.
"Your minions are not so competent as you thought, Empress," he said, with mocking emphasis on her title, but she had already dissolved into air.
Cecil and his friends burst into the room, met by Golbez. Kain lurked behind, his services not having been commanded for this fight, and watched their posturing. The old sage's wrath was nearly comical, were it not for the deadly seriousness behind his words.
The sage rained magic down upon Golbez without much visible effect. Kain leaned against the wall for support. He wondered how Cecil could stand it, this unbearable constant rush of power crackling through the air.
"So be it!" the sage shouted, and Kain turned toward them. "Let my life fuel the spell that ends his!"
Light.
Heat gathered into an impossibly small point, drawing all the magic in the room toward itself. It rained down upon Golbez, and the backlash was violent. Rosa simply collapsed. Kain reached for her and felt--
Cleansed.
Scoured.
Stripped of the constant pressure of magic in the back of his mind.
Freedom washed through him, unexpectedly painful.
"Come, Kain."
His legs gave out.
What have I done?
"So, the old man's interference severed my hold over you. No matter. Your purpose is served. Do not think this affront will be forgiven."
Kain felt the darkness of unconsciousness rise up to meet him as Golbez departed.
"Kain! Kain!" Someone was shaking him--ah. Cecil.
A wave of self-disgust threatened to swamp him when he opened his eyes and saw his near-brother kneeling next to him.
"For--forgive me," he managed to say, barely able to look at Cecil. He is all that is good and pure, and I...I am a traitor and a disgrace.
"Golbez held sway over your mind. None of this was your doing."
Damn Cecil. His forgiveness hurt more than Golbez's punishments.
"But...I was conscious of everything. Rosa, she...I--"
"Rosa! Where is she?" Cecil's concern turned to pure panic.
Ever am I second...
Rosa. Rosa, bound to the wall...beneath the guillotine...
"Above! Quickly, we've no time!" Kain turned and bolted for the door, hearing Cecil's footsteps pounding behind him.
In a pale blur, Cecil sprinted past Kain and cut the bindings that held her beneath the guillotine. He pulled her away mere moments before the blade crashed down.
Kain turned away. He could hear the sounds of their kiss, and could see in his mind's eye only too clearly what the scene behind him must be like.
Valvalicia had been correct. He would never be good enough for her.
Cid cracked some sort of joke that seemed to break the spell under which Cecil and Rosa had fallen. He knew the moment her gaze fell upon him. "Kain?!"
"He is himself again," Cecil assured her, and Kain endeavoured not to laugh. Cecil was so damned sure of it, and Kain had no such faith.
"Forgive me, Rosa," he said, but could not meet her eyes. "Not all of what I did was because of Golbez's spell. I just wanted to keep you...to keep you by my side..."
"Kain," she whispered.
Silence fell. Cecil was looking from Kain to Rosa, his face a study in astonishment. Surely he had realized the depth of the feelings Kain held for her? Yet he had ever been careful to conceal them. He expected rage. He expected accusations. The understanding on both their faces when they turned to him cut like Cecil's sword.
"Why don't you join us in our fight, Kain?" Rosa offered.
She could not be in earnest...and yet, she was.
If their forgiveness was his punishment...well, he had earned worse by far.
He bowed. "Rosa, Cecil...Please, accept my apologies."
"We don't have time for this right now! We need to get out of here!" Cid interrupted.
Cecil had brought armour and weapons for Rosa. Kain stood back as Cecil helped her to don them. He could feel the wind gathering around them.
Valvalicia was not pleased.
He smiled grimly. This was a battle that he intended to enjoy to the fullest.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers through Tower of Zot
Notes: Written for areyougame on IJ. Follows directly after "Soar" in the Lucis Ante Terminum arc.
Wordcount: 2700
Summary: Their forgiveness was more painful than their anger would have been.
Beta: celeloriel
Kain stood on the deck of the Crimson Fury and watched as Cecil's Enterprise rose from its resting place next to the city of Troia. Cid was piloting, while Cecil waited on the deck with the Fabul monk and the ancient sage.
Kain waited until the two ships hovered evenly with each other, and strode to the edge of the deck. "Where is the Earth Crystal?" he asked, though he could plainly see the hardened leather case that Cecil carried.
Cecil lifted the case. "Right here. And Rosa?"
Kain felt the icy pressure in the back of his mind, pinpricks of discomfort running along his nerves, as Golbez waited to see if his servant would obey. 'She is at the Tower of Zot. Follow our ship. We will take you there."
The prickling eased, and Kain breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his right hand in signal to the helmsman, who turned the airship and headed for the tower.
Valvalicia coalesced next to him out of empty air. "Humans are strange," she said.
"You have stated this previously," Kain answered. "Do you come bearing new insight into our flawed design, Empress of the Winds?" He used her title deliberately, and saw her start. She tilted her head and studied him intently.
"The human grows uppity," she said, as cold as the winds off the Mist Mountains in winter. The air temperature dropped significantly. Kain repressed a shiver.
"Does your presence here serve some purpose?" He turned to face her, to see the impact of his insolence.
He had half-expected her to attack him. Instead, she smiled. "You amuse me, Dragoon. You insult the Elemental Lords to our very faces, yet cower before Master Golbez. You jealously watch your...Rosa," and she pronounced the name as though it were something obscene. "Yet just now you could have killed the Paladin and taken the Earth Crystal, and you stood idly by and invited him into the Master's lair." She paused and turned to gaze over the mass of Troian forests spread beneath them. "Humans are strange," she said again. "You desire, but do not act. I do not understand you."
No more do I understand you, Kain thought, but did not say. "Master Golbez commanded that the Paladin be brought to him, fiend," he said instead. "Would you have me disobey him?"
She smiled. "I rather hoped you would," she said. "I do so love the sound of you screaming."
Kain turned away in disgust, only to find himself held fast by her claws on his shoulder. "Be mindful of your tongue when you speak to me," she hissed, "lest I forget that I find you an amusing toy and shred you like Fabul's prayer flags on the wind."
Kain smiled back. "Did you do so, Valvalicia, my spirit would remain to revel in your screams. Or have you forgotten that Master Golbez bid you do as you would, so long as I yet lived?"
Once again, she smiled. "You forget that I serve of choice, and not necessity."
Kain waited until she had dissolved into the brisk wind that aided their flight, and then took a deep breath.
He would go to see Rosa when they arrived. Perhaps he would even bring her some small luxury. Her gratitude brought him comfort.
Cecil's body broken upon his spear would bring him more.
Did he repeat it frequently enough, he might yet come to believe it.
Kain turned toward the Tower of Zot and forced a smile. Baron was his past. Golbez was his future. And in that future, he would reign with Rosa beside him.
The flight back to the Tower was short. Kain's pilot led Cecil's Enterprise to the lower docking bay, and then soared upward to dock the Crimson Fury at the pinnacle of the tower. Kain disembarked and went to Golbez's chambers to report.
When he arrived, Golbez was weaving magic into a reflection of the events on the Enterprise. "You will tell him to ascend," Golbez said.
"Yes, my lord." Kain took up his position, behind Golbez and to the right. He watched as Cid made certain to secure the Enterprise carefully before they all stepped ashore. He wanted to laugh at the way Cecil leaned forward as he walked, so desperately eager to reclaim his precious flower. Truly, his trusting behaviour made this too simple by far.
"Kain!" Cecil shouted, gazing around him as though he expected Kain to materialize from the crystal blocks of the tower itself.
"Where's he hidden himself?" Cid demanded.
Golbez nodded. Kain spoke. "You need not concern yourselves with that. Golbez would like to extend his personal gratitude for your cooperation in obtaining the Crystal."
"Golbez!" the old man shouted. Kain half-expected him to raise his fist and shake it impotently.
Golbez was not amused. "You have fulfilled your end of the bargain, and for that I am most grateful."
Kain shivered at the barely-contained malice in Golbez's tone. He could hear the extra note that meant Golbez was infusing his voice with magic, preying on their senses and bringing to light their fears. He fixed his eyes on the edge of Golbez's viewing spell and started to recite the names of the captains of the Dragon Knights of Baron to himself. It was a trick he used often to school himself to impassivity.
"Show yourself!" The old man was glowering fiercely.
"I understand your desire to hasten our meeting," Golbez said, and Kain shivered. There was something in Golbez's tone that was almost caressing, and it made him uneasy. "But first there is the matter of your reward."
"Reward?" The monk took up a battle stance. Kain smiled grimly. At least one of them possessed a modicum of sense.
"Your dear Rosa waits with me on this tower's highest floor," Golbez said. "Should you succeed in reaching us, I will exchange her for the Crystal as promised."
Out of the corner of his eye, Kain saw Valvalicia materialize in the corner. Golbez ignored her.
"There was nothing said of this before!" Cecil protested. Kain bit his lip to contain his laughter. Even as a dark knight, Cecil had expected naught but honesty from others. It seemed ascending Mount Ordeals had only exacerbated that trait.
"Nonetheless, you would do well to hurry. I cannot guarantee her life should you choose to do otherwise. We will be waiting." Golbez flicked his fingers and the viewing spell vanished. "Kain."
"My lord?"
"You have served me well." Golbez laid a hand on Kain's shoulder, and it seemed as though the warmth of his skin penetrated his gloves and Kain's armour alike. Kain desperately tried to direct his attention away. "You are relieved of your duties until the time comes to kill Cecil Harvey."
"Thank you, my lord." Kain sank to one knee. Strange how a gesture he had once performed so reluctantly had become so natural.
Golbez handed him a black iron key. "This will open Rosa's bindings. Do as you will with her, save only that if Cecil threatens to achieve the top of the tower, you will bind her once again. Is that clear?"
"Yes, my lord. Thank you." Kain accepted the key and rose, ignoring Valvalicia's laughter in the corner.
"Empress of the Winds," Golbez said, and Kain marked a certain deference in his tone. "Have you a report?"
Kain closed the door swiftly behind him, and made his way to his own quarters.
~*~
Rosa barely lifted her head when Kain entered the large, echoing chamber in which she was held captive. Her hair was matted and dirty, plastered to her neck in lank strands. Her white robes were covered in filth. Where her chains rubbed against her wrists and ankles, scabs and sores oozed blood slowly.
She was still the most beautiful woman Kain had ever known.
"Master Golbez has granted you a temporary reprieve," he said.
Something that might have been hope flared in her eyes. "Has Cecil come for me?"
"Cecil is dead, Rosa," Kain lied, making his tone as gentle as he could. "He drowned en route from Fabul to Baron."
She shook her head, though the effort made her sway slightly. "I would know," she insisted. "I would know if he were dead." Her words lacked their usual force. Kain wondered how much longer it would take to break her spirit.
Kain stepped closer and bent to unlock her chains. They fell away from her, but she did not move. "Can you stand, Rosa?"
It seemed to take her forever to get to her feet. Kain put a hand beneath her elbow to support her and led her slowly from the room.
The room in which he had first awakened in this tower, after the destruction of Mist, was a cell of some ten feet square. It was to this that he led her. The servants had brought clean linens and a tub of steaming water. Rosa stood in the doorway, staring about her as if dazed.
"You are not free to wander the tower," Kain told her, "but you may bathe, and rest. I will stand guard. None will disturb you."
"Kain," she said. "I can help you."
"I have no need of help. Master Golbez is a generous man," Kain said.
Rosa swayed on her feet. Kain stepped back and closed the door to the cell, locking her inside.
He took up his guard position outside the door, and deliberately directed his thoughts away from the idea of Rosa bathing.
~*~
The very air of the Tower of Zot felt abrasive against his skin from the echoes of magic. Kain resisted the urge to rub his hands over his arms in an effort to banish the scraping, crawling feeling. Normally the tower's magic was barely a hum against his skin, but for the past two days, the magic had been building to an unbearable pitch.
Cecil had come to claim Rosa.
Kain watched as Valvalicia gestured to her minions. The Magus Sisters vanished in a swirl of magic that lashed against him with the force of storm winds. If even he could feel this, how much worse was it for Rosa? She had seemed to revive slightly in the cell, but chained once more to the wall, she had wilted like a flower too long without water. Dark, bruise-like circles were vivid under her eyes, and she knelt slumped against the wall. He could not help her without freeing her, and Master Golbez had forbidden that. Instead, he hovered in a shadowed corner on the floor below, and turned his thoughts from her.
Valvalicia ran her claws over his armour. It scraped like metal on slate. He winced.
"Pathetic," she said.
"Have you no business to attend to elsewhere?"
"She knows that he lives," Valvalicia said. "She has known since you told her that he died."
"Ah, yes, and how did the Drowned King fare after losing him to the Lord of All Waters?" Kain asked softly.
Valvalicia snarled and dug her claws into the gaps in his armour until they pierced skin. Kain drew a sharp, hissing breath, but otherwise made no sound.
"Mock not my brothers," she warned him.
"Do you think to fare better against Cecil, Valvalicia? Do you think yourself so much better than Scarmiglione and Cagnozzio?"
"And what of you, Dragoon, and your little white mage toy? You find her less interesting without your otherself to measure against in your competition for her. Not so? You fear you are not bright enough on your own, to show her why she should choose you over spending the rest of her life in mourning for him."
Kain pushed her away, and she laughed. "Poor little--" Abruptly, she froze, and turned her head toward the door with an expression of disbelief. A moment later, Kain heard an echoing scream that sounded distinctly like Sandy.
"Your minions are not so competent as you thought, Empress," he said, with mocking emphasis on her title, but she had already dissolved into air.
Cecil and his friends burst into the room, met by Golbez. Kain lurked behind, his services not having been commanded for this fight, and watched their posturing. The old sage's wrath was nearly comical, were it not for the deadly seriousness behind his words.
The sage rained magic down upon Golbez without much visible effect. Kain leaned against the wall for support. He wondered how Cecil could stand it, this unbearable constant rush of power crackling through the air.
"So be it!" the sage shouted, and Kain turned toward them. "Let my life fuel the spell that ends his!"
Light.
Heat gathered into an impossibly small point, drawing all the magic in the room toward itself. It rained down upon Golbez, and the backlash was violent. Rosa simply collapsed. Kain reached for her and felt--
Cleansed.
Scoured.
Stripped of the constant pressure of magic in the back of his mind.
Freedom washed through him, unexpectedly painful.
"Come, Kain."
His legs gave out.
What have I done?
"So, the old man's interference severed my hold over you. No matter. Your purpose is served. Do not think this affront will be forgiven."
Kain felt the darkness of unconsciousness rise up to meet him as Golbez departed.
"Kain! Kain!" Someone was shaking him--ah. Cecil.
A wave of self-disgust threatened to swamp him when he opened his eyes and saw his near-brother kneeling next to him.
"For--forgive me," he managed to say, barely able to look at Cecil. He is all that is good and pure, and I...I am a traitor and a disgrace.
"Golbez held sway over your mind. None of this was your doing."
Damn Cecil. His forgiveness hurt more than Golbez's punishments.
"But...I was conscious of everything. Rosa, she...I--"
"Rosa! Where is she?" Cecil's concern turned to pure panic.
Ever am I second...
Rosa. Rosa, bound to the wall...beneath the guillotine...
"Above! Quickly, we've no time!" Kain turned and bolted for the door, hearing Cecil's footsteps pounding behind him.
In a pale blur, Cecil sprinted past Kain and cut the bindings that held her beneath the guillotine. He pulled her away mere moments before the blade crashed down.
Kain turned away. He could hear the sounds of their kiss, and could see in his mind's eye only too clearly what the scene behind him must be like.
Valvalicia had been correct. He would never be good enough for her.
Cid cracked some sort of joke that seemed to break the spell under which Cecil and Rosa had fallen. He knew the moment her gaze fell upon him. "Kain?!"
"He is himself again," Cecil assured her, and Kain endeavoured not to laugh. Cecil was so damned sure of it, and Kain had no such faith.
"Forgive me, Rosa," he said, but could not meet her eyes. "Not all of what I did was because of Golbez's spell. I just wanted to keep you...to keep you by my side..."
"Kain," she whispered.
Silence fell. Cecil was looking from Kain to Rosa, his face a study in astonishment. Surely he had realized the depth of the feelings Kain held for her? Yet he had ever been careful to conceal them. He expected rage. He expected accusations. The understanding on both their faces when they turned to him cut like Cecil's sword.
"Why don't you join us in our fight, Kain?" Rosa offered.
She could not be in earnest...and yet, she was.
If their forgiveness was his punishment...well, he had earned worse by far.
He bowed. "Rosa, Cecil...Please, accept my apologies."
"We don't have time for this right now! We need to get out of here!" Cid interrupted.
Cecil had brought armour and weapons for Rosa. Kain stood back as Cecil helped her to don them. He could feel the wind gathering around them.
Valvalicia was not pleased.
He smiled grimly. This was a battle that he intended to enjoy to the fullest.