"Innocence" (Final Fantasy IV; Kain/Rydia/Valvalicia)
Title: Innocence
Fandom: Final Fantasy IV
Pairing: Kain/Valvalicia/Rydia
Author: Celtic Star (lassarina/ficjournal: athyn)
Recipient: Salty Bob
Rating: R
Warnings: Not really worksafe for sexual content. Spoilers.
Summary: Do not call up what you cannot put down.
It was dark here, empty and cold, and she was alone. She could sense her brothers nearby, but could not touch them; whenever she tried, the emptiness stretched in all directions and she reached without being able to touch them. The harder she tried, the farther away they seemed, and so eventually she ceased trying, and hung suspended in nothing, waiting.
It was the idleness that irritated her the most. She was Wind, and Wind was never truly still. Even on a calm day, air currents eddied and swirled around. Here there was nothing to toy with, no detritus to sweep into a trail that swept behind her like the train of a gown. There were no people to scour to the bone with a swirling vortex of sand, or travelers to trap in a blizzard and entomb in ice. She missed the thrill of flight, and the ability to go anywhere she pleased simply because she could.
Such thoughts led her to rage against her prison, throwing herself against nothing, without even the satisfaction of landing on a surface to show that she was having an effect. She raked her claws in vertical lines before her eyes, without so much as the feel of air sliding past her skin to tell her that she existed at all. She tried to rake her claws across her own flesh, but even that failed to create the impression of response, with neither pain nor blood to tell of her success.
She shouted, threatened, cajoled, whispered, and fought, all to no avail. At length she simply hung once more, exhausted and without the will to continue her pointless struggle.
She did not know how long she was there. Periodically she tried to escape, but the energy of rage always failed her. Yet to admit defeat was foreign to her, and thus she continued to struggle.
She did not know how long it took, but at long, long last, bright strands of magic wrapped round her and dug savage hooks deep into her mind and her essence-not her mask of flesh, but the true essence that gave her form-and pulled.
~*~
Rydia scowled in concentration and forced more power into the summoning. She could sense that she was close to weakening the veil enough that she could pull the summoned spirit through. Just a bit more...
A strong wind whipped her robes about her and completely disordered her hair. Bright yellow light swirled in a violent tornado in the center of the circle, and very slowly coalesced into a shape that was like unto a voluptuous woman whose lower half consisted of a golden whirlwind. The woman bared her teeth in a mockery of a smile and hovered a few inches above the floor.
Rydia began to speak the ancient words of ritual. "My name is Rydia, and I am of the line of the Summoners of Mist. I have called you here to obtain your summoning token."
The woman in the circle laughed. Rydia continued on, unfazed. "Valvalicia, Fiend of Wind, I require your summoning token."
Valvalicia raised her fingertips to her mouth, licked them, and stroked suggestively down her own throat and over her breasts. Rydia stood still, right hand outstretched.
"It is traditional," Valvalicia said, idly stroking herself, "for a summoner to defeat the creature she wishes to summon in battle before demanding a token."
"I have beaten you once before," Rydia said steadily.
Valvalicia laughed again. "Not on your own merits, little summoner girl. You had help."
"Most summoners do," Rydia retorted.
"I suppose that is true," Valvalicia agreed. Her hand drifted downward into the tornado that swirled around her lower half, and she withdrew an amulet carven of yellow crystal and suspended on a golden chain. She threw it at Rydia, who caught it easily.
Rydia spoke the words of dismissal and the woman's shape faded from sight, the wind fading with her. The lines of the summoning circle had vanished from the floor. She felt more alive than she could ever remember feeling before; even conquering Bahamut had not made her feel so energized. She made an effort to tame her hair into something less resembling a baby chocobo's downy fuzz, and left the summoning chamber. There was much to be done in rebuilding Mist, and her personal efforts to improve her summoning were secondary to that consideration.
~*~
Kain breathed deep of the crisp mountain air and let his chocobo amble forward at whatever pace he preferred, picking its way idly along the path. It had been a long winter in Baron, and he had ever hated being cooped up within castle walls, even as a child. Thus it was that when Cecil said he needed someone to check on Rydia's progress in Mist, Kain had reacted with unseemly haste and had his chocobo saddled within the quarter-hour.
Kain glanced back to check on the four pack birds trailing behind him. They nodded along, occasionally pecking at tufts of grass in hopes of finding a stray gysahl plant. He had made good time, untroubled by the goblins that wandered Baron's fields, as goblins were utterly terrified of chocobos and would run shrieking at the first sign of yellow feathers.
His chocobo reached the crest of the path, and Kain looked out over the peaceful little mountain valley. From this distance, one would never know that less than two years since, the pretty white stone village had burned to the ground, seared by unnatural flame. Nor would one know that the end of the valley had once been an open passageway through the mountains to Kaipo, before a grieving, angry child had sealed it with the power of an earth summon she could not control.
They began to make their way down the twisting path that led into the Mist Valley. The valley at the moment lacked its customary fog; he wondered if that was because it was late afternoon and the spring sun was strong, or if Rydia had not summoned a guardian for the valley. The latter thought troubled him; few would think to attack the valley, when naught remained of its former residents' power save legends, and fewer still would come to seek treasure when it was well known that Mist had been razed to the ground. Still, Rydia was alone out here, and though she possessed power enough to defend herself, she was as vulnerable as any to a well-placed blade if her opponent drew too close.
The long path that cut back and forth across the mountain face gave him more than ample time to brood over the lack of defenses in the Mist Valley, and by the time he was halfway down, he had already determined that he would not be departing Mist near as soon as he'd planned; the last summoner was far too valuable to be left unguarded thus.
She was waiting for him when at last he reached the bottom of the path, hands on her hips. Her green hair blew about her face in the swirling winds. "Hello," she said.
Kain bowed as best he could from the saddle. "Cecil thought you might appreciate some supplies."
"And he had no lackeys to spare?" she asked lightly, reaching for the lead rope of the pack birds.
Kain untied it and handed it over. "Lackeys we have aplenty, but I confess I was desperate to get out of Baron, and I thought perhaps you might welcome the assistance of a strong back in your efforts."
"And Cecil let you out of his sight just that easily?" she asked, looking amused.
"He is hardly my keeper," Kain replied.
"From his letters, I thought he might come himself." She began to lead the chocobos toward the village.
Kain dismounted and walked beside her, reins held loosely in his hand. "Baron has little need of a disgraced Dragon Knight, and much need of her king. Cecil wanted to come, but there was much that needed doing in Baron that only he can do." Seeing the disappointment on her face, he touched her shoulder lightly. "I am sorry."
She smiled, too brightly. "I understand. I can't very well leave Mist, myself."
Kain looked at the tumbled heaps of stone that had once been a village. "Do any of the buildings yet stand?"
"Some do, but most aren't very safe." She shrugged. "There are a few people who've come since the...since I left. Mostly refugees from Damcyan, or those turned out of Baron by Golbez and his minions. They help out."
"If I may, I would offer my own assistance to add to theirs," Kain said.
She looked at him in surprise. "Why?"
"'Tis half my doing that the village was ruined in the first place," Kain answered, looking anywhere but at her. "I would do what I may to help you rebuild."
"That wasn't your fault," she protested.
"I did not know what package I delivered, true," Kain said. "Yet I slew your mother's dragon, and her with it, and I did not act swiftly enough to save the others when the ring unleashed its power."
Rydia huffed impatiently and halted in the middle of the path, arms akimbo. "Will you never be done blaming yourself for the actions of others?"
"Regardless of who initiated the action, I carried it out, and therefore bear part of the blame," he said.
The wind picked up, snapping Rydia's robes about her like the flags that flew over Baron Castle. Her eyes flashed with irritation. "You are impossible," she declared, and stalked ahead of him, the chocobos following tamely along.
Kain's chocobo nudged him hard, nearly sending him off his feet. "I won't have this from you as well," he warned it, glaring. The chocobo warked and commenced a serious investigation the grass on the side of the path. Kain sighed and tugged on the reins to lead the bird forward.
He found Rydia-and the pack birds-at the far end of the main road that wended its way through the village. She had put the birds into a stone-walled pen and unbound their packs and piled them neatly outside the stone fence. She was leaning against the stone wall, arms crossed, watching him approach.
"You have done wonders here," Kain said cautiously once he was close enough for her to hear him, but not so far as to have his words overheard by the trail of people that had assembled in his wake as he made his way toward her. "Even just to clear debris from the road-"
"As I said, I had help." Rydia did not meet his eyes as she unfastened his chocobo's saddle. "There's room in here for one more," she added, wrestling the saddle off the bird with a quiet grunt and propping it on a metal bar that stood next to the pen.
Kain led his chocobo into the pen and removed its bridle. It nudged his shoulder and walked off to seek sustenance. Kain noticed one of the women approaching with a large bundle of cut grass, which she dumped into a trough just inside the pen. Kain made his escape through the gate just before the chocobos converged on the food.
Rydia was waiting for him. "You can stay with me," she said. She appeared oblivious to the round of mutters that this produced from the others, though Kain was not. "There's plenty of room."
"Thank you," Kain said. He scooped up two of the packs that had come to the village with him. "These are supplies, a gift from Cecil," he said when she looked at him curiously.
She laughed. "I was wondering at so much luggage for a lone traveler, and a male at that," she said, grabbing another. A few of the villagers came forward to assist. "We'll put them in the storehouse," Rydia decreed, and led him thence.
Once the supplies had been categorized and stored, he followed her to a wooden house built on the remains of a stone building. He had to duck a bit to enter, but once inside, he could stand comfortably.
"I haven't got anything heavy enough to hold your armour," she said, crossing the room to poke at something in a pot over the fire. Whatever it was smelled wonderful after a day of riding.
"I can set it in a corner, if you've one to spare," he replied, starting to unfasten the various pieces.
She pointed in silence to a corner, and for several moments, the only sound was the pop of burning wood and the creak of metal and leather as he removed his armour.
"Your compatriots seem uncertain of your virtue if I stay here," he ventured after the armour was arranged to his satisfaction. When he turned, the look on Rydia's face made him wish he still wore the layers of steel.
"What?" she demanded.
"They gave me most untoward looks when you invited me to stay," he explained.
Rydia scowled. "Of all the stupidity," she muttered, stirring her pot rather more forcefully than was strictly necessary. "You're a friend, why would I not invite you in?"
"You know it is friendship, as do I, but they look at us and see a young man and a young woman, and make assumptions." Knowing he took a significant personal risk in so doing, Kain crossed the room and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry to trouble you."
She sighed, and her shoulders sagged beneath his hand. "It was much simpler in the land below," she mumbled.
Kain had nothing comforting to say, so instead he squeezed her shoulder gently. She straightened up and gave him a wan smile. "Dinner is ready," she said.
She served up bowls of a creamy potato soup, and they sat at the tiny table in the corner to eat. The table was so small that Kain had to keep his chair farther back than he normally was, lest his knees crowd hers beneath the tabletop. That led to a few near-misses when he nearly dropped spoonfuls of steaming-hot soup upon his lap. At length he turned his chair sideways and scooted himself closer to the table, pretending not to notice how hard Rydia struggled to contain her laughter.
"I'm sorry," she said, and though the mirth in her green eyes belied the words, her tone was contrite. "It's just me here usually, and..."
"You need not apologize," Kain said, concentrating on retrieving the last bits of potato from his bowl. "This is your home, and you were not expecting guests."
Rydia said nothing, only rose to gather the dishes. Kain sat awkwardly upon the plain wooden chair as she moved about the room, heating water over the fire and scraping the dishes clean. "How may I assist you?" he asked as she added more wood to the fire.
She hesitated, and glanced at the wood box. Kain looked and saw that it was empty. "Have you firewood already chopped, or shall I make myself useful thus?" he asked, rising and heading for the door.
"There is some already chopped, stacked against the side of the house. But you don't have to-"
The rest of her sentence was lost as he closed the door gently behind him and went in search of firewood. When he returned with an armful of split logs and fumbled with the latch, she swept open the door with a sigh. "You really didn't have to," she said. "I know we don't have much in the way of human manners in the land below, but even there we don't make a guest work for his keep."
"I came here to help." Kain deposited his armful of logs in the wood box and brushed bits of bark and dead leaves from his sleeves. "I am of little use to you in the kitchen, but I do know how to haul heavy things about."
"Thank you," Rydia said awkwardly, and resumed washing the dishes.
Kain took the water bucket outside and located the water pump with little difficulty, returning with a full bucket of water.
"I think that's all for domestic chores this evening," Rydia said, seating herself at the table with little of her usual grace.
"Are you all right?" Kain asked.
She smiled a little. "I'm fine. Just tired. Between trying to restore Mist and improving my summoning..."
"Either would be quite a daunting task in itself," Kain said.
"Yes." Rydia yawned hugely. "I'm sorry-"
"No need. You should rest." Kain went to his pack and unstrapped his bedroll.
"What are you doing?" Rydia demanded.
Kain looked over his shoulder. "Making myself a place to sleep."
"Oh, of all the-you don't have to sleep on the floor!"
"I doubt you've an extra bed," Kain pointed out, "and you are quite entitled to have your own bed to yourself. I will be fine."
She protested several times more, and he calmly went about the process of spreading out his bedroll and banking the fire for the evening without regard for her protests, much as he had done during their journey when she and Edge sniped at each other endlessly and he simply went about the task of setting up their camp for the evening while Rosa tended to everyone else's wounds.
At length she gave up trying to persuade him not to sleep on the floor and stomped off to her bed. Kain smiled faintly to himself and undressed before lying down on his bedroll. It was not precisely uncomfortable, and it would have been immensely improper for him to share her bed, regardless of his intentions.
He fell asleep with the sound of the wind rustling the grass outside, and awoke in the dark much later with Rydia's skin warm against his and her lips pressed to his.
"Rydia-" he began.
"Touch me," she said, and there was something in her voice that was wrong, but he could not identify precisely what-particularly not when she was doing her level best to distract him with her tongue tracing his earlobe and her hands sliding down his chest and unfastening his trousers.
"Rydia, this is not-you are-"
Her nails scraped along the tops of his thighs, and they seemed sharper than they ought, or perhaps that was incipient panic heightening his perceptions. Her touch sent tingles like thunder spells racing over his skin, and he was finding it rather harder to recall precisely why he wanted to protest.
"You want this," she murmured, her fingers wrapped around him and stroking slowly. "We both do."
Something about that statement tugged at a strand of memory, as though he'd heard it before, but it was hard to chase down that memory with Rydia being deliberately distracting. With her free hand, she caught one of his and brought it to her breast. His fingers curled around the smooth curve of flesh, and she made an approving noise.
"Rydia, I should not," he said, trying to withdraw his hand. She held it against her skin, slim fingers surprisingly strong on his wrist.
"And why not?" she asked, brushing kisses along his jaw and down the side of his throat. "I am an adult, and full old enough to make my own choices."
Kain hesitated. "Are you sure this is truly what you wish, Rydia?"
She made a fierce, frustrated sound and her teeth scraped his collarbone. "Touch me, damn you, Kain!"
Still, he was slow to obey, but his hands slid over her skin slowly, feeling the multitude of tiny scars she had acquired when they sought to put an end to Golbez's evil. She twisted in his grasp, agile and quick, and guided his hands as she wished. He had thought her an innocent, but there was something in the way she moved that suggested perhaps he had been mistaken. He was not one to rush this, but when he tried to ease their pace, she acted with surprising strength to turn him over onto his back, and poised herself above him.
In the faint red glow of the fire, her hair looked oddly light-coloured, and her gaze was focused and fierce. She wore naught save for a crystal amulet on a golden chain that swung between her breasts as she lowered herself onto him. She moved fast, and fierce, and he found himself swept along with her, like detritus in the wake of a tornado. At last she threw her head back with a keening cry and her nails scraped sharply down his chest, leaving sting red furrows. That was enough to send him over the edge as well, and he feared he might leave bruises on her hips from the force of his grip.
She smiled down at him, breathing hard, and there was something suddenly all too familiar about that smile. With a sinking feeling, he recalled exactly where he had heard her earlier words before.
"You're despicable, Valvalicia," he said with as much calm as he could muster.
She laughed, shaking back Rydia's hair, and ran her palm over his chest. "That took you long enough," she said, blue eyes bright.
"Give her back," Kain said, pushing her to the side and twisting so that she lay upon the bedroll and he could sit up.
"I rather like this body," she said. "It helps that she's attracted to you anyway."
Kain considered his options, and found he had very few. He very much doubted he was capable of killing Valvalicia a third time without doing fatal harm to Rydia, at least while the Fiend of Wind possessed the summoner's body. Yet he could not leave things as they were, for to let the Fiend loose upon the world again-in a body as powerful as this one-was unconscionable.
He felt fingertips against his wrist. Rydia was looking at him out of her own green eyes. "The amulet," she whispered, and then her eyes deepened to blue again.
Kain lifted a hand slowly to tuck strands of her hair behind her ears. Valvalicia smiled at him from Rydia's face. "That's right," she said. "You remember how good we were-"
Kain tangled his fingers in the golden chain and yanked. The chain snapped, and Valvalicia screamed.
"Wrap it in something!" Rydia ordered in her own voice, then choked and clutched at her throat, eyes wide as she fought for breath. Kain grabbed his discarded shirt and wrapped the amulet in it, then hesitated unsure what to do for Rydia.
"Summoning chamber," she choked out. "Upstairs."
He swept her into his arms and ran up the stairs, the shirt still clutched in one hand. There was but one chamber on the upper floor, with a circle inscribed on the floor and multiple intricate symbols inscribed within it. Rydia was making tiny choked sounds, clutching at empty air around her throat. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"What do I do, Rydia?" he asked, and hated the edge of fear and uncertainty to his voice.
She grabbed the shirt from his hand and unrolled it, flinging the amulet into the center of the circle. A flash of dazzling light blinded him momentarily. When at last he could see around the spots in his vision, he saw Valvalicia floating in the center of the circle, snarling, and Rydia bent double beside him, gasping for air.
After a few moments she straightened up and sketched a complex shape in the air with her fingers. She spoke in a deep voice that echoed of power in a way reminiscent of Golbez, which sent chills crawling down his spine. He did not understand the words she spoke, but he understood their effect well enough. Screaming curses, Valvalicia faded from view, and when she was gone, naught remained in the circle save the sigils. The amulet was gone.
"Rydia?" He turned to her, and laid a hand lightly on her shoulder. She shook her head.
"Let me get dressed," she said, "and I will tell you."
"I'm sorry," he said, and had never felt so awkward in his life. "About before."
The way her lips curved wasn't exactly a smile, but it eased some of the tension twisting in his stomach. "Don't be."
She led the way downstairs, and in short order they were both clothed and seated at her tiny kitchen table. She stared at her hands, twisting together in her lap, for several long moments before she spoke.
"I wanted to improve my summoning skills," she said, "and so I thought to learn to summon the Four Fiends. She was the first I called, and as I had already defeated her in battle, I demanded her summoning token. She gave it to me, but...I didn't know. I didn't even realize that she could control me like that until I-I guess you'd say I woke up-and she was...I mean I was....and you were..." Her fair skin flushed bright red, and she clasped her hands tightly in her lap.
"I am so sorry," Kain said, and could not look at her. He had taken her innocence not once, but twice, and both times here in this valley.
"It is I who should be sorry," she said in a very small voice. "I should not have trifled with such power."
"You didn't know," Kain said, reaching across the table to tilt her chin up so that she had to look him in the eye.
"I did," she insisted. "I fought her just as you did."
"You knew her power, yes, but not how insidious she could be." Kain shrugged. "Neither did I, when first I encountered her."
Rydia looked away. "She-I know what she said to you, when you tried to stop her."
Now it was he who stared at his hands in his lap. "What I did was unforgivable. Twice now I have wronged you beyond words."
Her fingertips slipped under his chin, exerting pressure until he looked up at her. "It is not, perhaps, the way I would have chosen," she said, "but I am not angry with you for it."
Kain held his tongue, for he had no words worth speaking. Rydia rose, and he stood along with her.
"I should go," he said after a moment.
"I wish you wouldn't," she said, and stepped closer to him. Her arms slid around his waist, and she rested her head against his chest.
"Do you truly wish me to stay?" he asked.
"Yes." She looked up at him, and in her face he saw only Rydia, no lingering shades of Valvalicia.
Slowly his arms closed around her. She smiled faintly, and pressed closer to him.
~*~
Author's Note: Yeah, so, Kain and Valvalicia completely took over this story without my permission. Originally I had in mind a much darker ending in which, after Kain realizes that Valvalicia is puppeting Rydia, Valvalicia kills Kain and no one else is any the wiser to her trick, but I wasn't sure how that would go over, so I went for a slightly lighter touch. I would be happy to also provide you with the darker ending if you choose.
Concrit (indeed, feedback in all forms) is welcomed with open arms and lots of Internet cookies.
--Celtic Star
Fandom: Final Fantasy IV
Pairing: Kain/Valvalicia/Rydia
Author: Celtic Star (lassarina/ficjournal: athyn)
Recipient: Salty Bob
Rating: R
Warnings: Not really worksafe for sexual content. Spoilers.
Summary: Do not call up what you cannot put down.
It was dark here, empty and cold, and she was alone. She could sense her brothers nearby, but could not touch them; whenever she tried, the emptiness stretched in all directions and she reached without being able to touch them. The harder she tried, the farther away they seemed, and so eventually she ceased trying, and hung suspended in nothing, waiting.
It was the idleness that irritated her the most. She was Wind, and Wind was never truly still. Even on a calm day, air currents eddied and swirled around. Here there was nothing to toy with, no detritus to sweep into a trail that swept behind her like the train of a gown. There were no people to scour to the bone with a swirling vortex of sand, or travelers to trap in a blizzard and entomb in ice. She missed the thrill of flight, and the ability to go anywhere she pleased simply because she could.
Such thoughts led her to rage against her prison, throwing herself against nothing, without even the satisfaction of landing on a surface to show that she was having an effect. She raked her claws in vertical lines before her eyes, without so much as the feel of air sliding past her skin to tell her that she existed at all. She tried to rake her claws across her own flesh, but even that failed to create the impression of response, with neither pain nor blood to tell of her success.
She shouted, threatened, cajoled, whispered, and fought, all to no avail. At length she simply hung once more, exhausted and without the will to continue her pointless struggle.
She did not know how long she was there. Periodically she tried to escape, but the energy of rage always failed her. Yet to admit defeat was foreign to her, and thus she continued to struggle.
She did not know how long it took, but at long, long last, bright strands of magic wrapped round her and dug savage hooks deep into her mind and her essence-not her mask of flesh, but the true essence that gave her form-and pulled.
~*~
Rydia scowled in concentration and forced more power into the summoning. She could sense that she was close to weakening the veil enough that she could pull the summoned spirit through. Just a bit more...
A strong wind whipped her robes about her and completely disordered her hair. Bright yellow light swirled in a violent tornado in the center of the circle, and very slowly coalesced into a shape that was like unto a voluptuous woman whose lower half consisted of a golden whirlwind. The woman bared her teeth in a mockery of a smile and hovered a few inches above the floor.
Rydia began to speak the ancient words of ritual. "My name is Rydia, and I am of the line of the Summoners of Mist. I have called you here to obtain your summoning token."
The woman in the circle laughed. Rydia continued on, unfazed. "Valvalicia, Fiend of Wind, I require your summoning token."
Valvalicia raised her fingertips to her mouth, licked them, and stroked suggestively down her own throat and over her breasts. Rydia stood still, right hand outstretched.
"It is traditional," Valvalicia said, idly stroking herself, "for a summoner to defeat the creature she wishes to summon in battle before demanding a token."
"I have beaten you once before," Rydia said steadily.
Valvalicia laughed again. "Not on your own merits, little summoner girl. You had help."
"Most summoners do," Rydia retorted.
"I suppose that is true," Valvalicia agreed. Her hand drifted downward into the tornado that swirled around her lower half, and she withdrew an amulet carven of yellow crystal and suspended on a golden chain. She threw it at Rydia, who caught it easily.
Rydia spoke the words of dismissal and the woman's shape faded from sight, the wind fading with her. The lines of the summoning circle had vanished from the floor. She felt more alive than she could ever remember feeling before; even conquering Bahamut had not made her feel so energized. She made an effort to tame her hair into something less resembling a baby chocobo's downy fuzz, and left the summoning chamber. There was much to be done in rebuilding Mist, and her personal efforts to improve her summoning were secondary to that consideration.
~*~
Kain breathed deep of the crisp mountain air and let his chocobo amble forward at whatever pace he preferred, picking its way idly along the path. It had been a long winter in Baron, and he had ever hated being cooped up within castle walls, even as a child. Thus it was that when Cecil said he needed someone to check on Rydia's progress in Mist, Kain had reacted with unseemly haste and had his chocobo saddled within the quarter-hour.
Kain glanced back to check on the four pack birds trailing behind him. They nodded along, occasionally pecking at tufts of grass in hopes of finding a stray gysahl plant. He had made good time, untroubled by the goblins that wandered Baron's fields, as goblins were utterly terrified of chocobos and would run shrieking at the first sign of yellow feathers.
His chocobo reached the crest of the path, and Kain looked out over the peaceful little mountain valley. From this distance, one would never know that less than two years since, the pretty white stone village had burned to the ground, seared by unnatural flame. Nor would one know that the end of the valley had once been an open passageway through the mountains to Kaipo, before a grieving, angry child had sealed it with the power of an earth summon she could not control.
They began to make their way down the twisting path that led into the Mist Valley. The valley at the moment lacked its customary fog; he wondered if that was because it was late afternoon and the spring sun was strong, or if Rydia had not summoned a guardian for the valley. The latter thought troubled him; few would think to attack the valley, when naught remained of its former residents' power save legends, and fewer still would come to seek treasure when it was well known that Mist had been razed to the ground. Still, Rydia was alone out here, and though she possessed power enough to defend herself, she was as vulnerable as any to a well-placed blade if her opponent drew too close.
The long path that cut back and forth across the mountain face gave him more than ample time to brood over the lack of defenses in the Mist Valley, and by the time he was halfway down, he had already determined that he would not be departing Mist near as soon as he'd planned; the last summoner was far too valuable to be left unguarded thus.
She was waiting for him when at last he reached the bottom of the path, hands on her hips. Her green hair blew about her face in the swirling winds. "Hello," she said.
Kain bowed as best he could from the saddle. "Cecil thought you might appreciate some supplies."
"And he had no lackeys to spare?" she asked lightly, reaching for the lead rope of the pack birds.
Kain untied it and handed it over. "Lackeys we have aplenty, but I confess I was desperate to get out of Baron, and I thought perhaps you might welcome the assistance of a strong back in your efforts."
"And Cecil let you out of his sight just that easily?" she asked, looking amused.
"He is hardly my keeper," Kain replied.
"From his letters, I thought he might come himself." She began to lead the chocobos toward the village.
Kain dismounted and walked beside her, reins held loosely in his hand. "Baron has little need of a disgraced Dragon Knight, and much need of her king. Cecil wanted to come, but there was much that needed doing in Baron that only he can do." Seeing the disappointment on her face, he touched her shoulder lightly. "I am sorry."
She smiled, too brightly. "I understand. I can't very well leave Mist, myself."
Kain looked at the tumbled heaps of stone that had once been a village. "Do any of the buildings yet stand?"
"Some do, but most aren't very safe." She shrugged. "There are a few people who've come since the...since I left. Mostly refugees from Damcyan, or those turned out of Baron by Golbez and his minions. They help out."
"If I may, I would offer my own assistance to add to theirs," Kain said.
She looked at him in surprise. "Why?"
"'Tis half my doing that the village was ruined in the first place," Kain answered, looking anywhere but at her. "I would do what I may to help you rebuild."
"That wasn't your fault," she protested.
"I did not know what package I delivered, true," Kain said. "Yet I slew your mother's dragon, and her with it, and I did not act swiftly enough to save the others when the ring unleashed its power."
Rydia huffed impatiently and halted in the middle of the path, arms akimbo. "Will you never be done blaming yourself for the actions of others?"
"Regardless of who initiated the action, I carried it out, and therefore bear part of the blame," he said.
The wind picked up, snapping Rydia's robes about her like the flags that flew over Baron Castle. Her eyes flashed with irritation. "You are impossible," she declared, and stalked ahead of him, the chocobos following tamely along.
Kain's chocobo nudged him hard, nearly sending him off his feet. "I won't have this from you as well," he warned it, glaring. The chocobo warked and commenced a serious investigation the grass on the side of the path. Kain sighed and tugged on the reins to lead the bird forward.
He found Rydia-and the pack birds-at the far end of the main road that wended its way through the village. She had put the birds into a stone-walled pen and unbound their packs and piled them neatly outside the stone fence. She was leaning against the stone wall, arms crossed, watching him approach.
"You have done wonders here," Kain said cautiously once he was close enough for her to hear him, but not so far as to have his words overheard by the trail of people that had assembled in his wake as he made his way toward her. "Even just to clear debris from the road-"
"As I said, I had help." Rydia did not meet his eyes as she unfastened his chocobo's saddle. "There's room in here for one more," she added, wrestling the saddle off the bird with a quiet grunt and propping it on a metal bar that stood next to the pen.
Kain led his chocobo into the pen and removed its bridle. It nudged his shoulder and walked off to seek sustenance. Kain noticed one of the women approaching with a large bundle of cut grass, which she dumped into a trough just inside the pen. Kain made his escape through the gate just before the chocobos converged on the food.
Rydia was waiting for him. "You can stay with me," she said. She appeared oblivious to the round of mutters that this produced from the others, though Kain was not. "There's plenty of room."
"Thank you," Kain said. He scooped up two of the packs that had come to the village with him. "These are supplies, a gift from Cecil," he said when she looked at him curiously.
She laughed. "I was wondering at so much luggage for a lone traveler, and a male at that," she said, grabbing another. A few of the villagers came forward to assist. "We'll put them in the storehouse," Rydia decreed, and led him thence.
Once the supplies had been categorized and stored, he followed her to a wooden house built on the remains of a stone building. He had to duck a bit to enter, but once inside, he could stand comfortably.
"I haven't got anything heavy enough to hold your armour," she said, crossing the room to poke at something in a pot over the fire. Whatever it was smelled wonderful after a day of riding.
"I can set it in a corner, if you've one to spare," he replied, starting to unfasten the various pieces.
She pointed in silence to a corner, and for several moments, the only sound was the pop of burning wood and the creak of metal and leather as he removed his armour.
"Your compatriots seem uncertain of your virtue if I stay here," he ventured after the armour was arranged to his satisfaction. When he turned, the look on Rydia's face made him wish he still wore the layers of steel.
"What?" she demanded.
"They gave me most untoward looks when you invited me to stay," he explained.
Rydia scowled. "Of all the stupidity," she muttered, stirring her pot rather more forcefully than was strictly necessary. "You're a friend, why would I not invite you in?"
"You know it is friendship, as do I, but they look at us and see a young man and a young woman, and make assumptions." Knowing he took a significant personal risk in so doing, Kain crossed the room and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry to trouble you."
She sighed, and her shoulders sagged beneath his hand. "It was much simpler in the land below," she mumbled.
Kain had nothing comforting to say, so instead he squeezed her shoulder gently. She straightened up and gave him a wan smile. "Dinner is ready," she said.
She served up bowls of a creamy potato soup, and they sat at the tiny table in the corner to eat. The table was so small that Kain had to keep his chair farther back than he normally was, lest his knees crowd hers beneath the tabletop. That led to a few near-misses when he nearly dropped spoonfuls of steaming-hot soup upon his lap. At length he turned his chair sideways and scooted himself closer to the table, pretending not to notice how hard Rydia struggled to contain her laughter.
"I'm sorry," she said, and though the mirth in her green eyes belied the words, her tone was contrite. "It's just me here usually, and..."
"You need not apologize," Kain said, concentrating on retrieving the last bits of potato from his bowl. "This is your home, and you were not expecting guests."
Rydia said nothing, only rose to gather the dishes. Kain sat awkwardly upon the plain wooden chair as she moved about the room, heating water over the fire and scraping the dishes clean. "How may I assist you?" he asked as she added more wood to the fire.
She hesitated, and glanced at the wood box. Kain looked and saw that it was empty. "Have you firewood already chopped, or shall I make myself useful thus?" he asked, rising and heading for the door.
"There is some already chopped, stacked against the side of the house. But you don't have to-"
The rest of her sentence was lost as he closed the door gently behind him and went in search of firewood. When he returned with an armful of split logs and fumbled with the latch, she swept open the door with a sigh. "You really didn't have to," she said. "I know we don't have much in the way of human manners in the land below, but even there we don't make a guest work for his keep."
"I came here to help." Kain deposited his armful of logs in the wood box and brushed bits of bark and dead leaves from his sleeves. "I am of little use to you in the kitchen, but I do know how to haul heavy things about."
"Thank you," Rydia said awkwardly, and resumed washing the dishes.
Kain took the water bucket outside and located the water pump with little difficulty, returning with a full bucket of water.
"I think that's all for domestic chores this evening," Rydia said, seating herself at the table with little of her usual grace.
"Are you all right?" Kain asked.
She smiled a little. "I'm fine. Just tired. Between trying to restore Mist and improving my summoning..."
"Either would be quite a daunting task in itself," Kain said.
"Yes." Rydia yawned hugely. "I'm sorry-"
"No need. You should rest." Kain went to his pack and unstrapped his bedroll.
"What are you doing?" Rydia demanded.
Kain looked over his shoulder. "Making myself a place to sleep."
"Oh, of all the-you don't have to sleep on the floor!"
"I doubt you've an extra bed," Kain pointed out, "and you are quite entitled to have your own bed to yourself. I will be fine."
She protested several times more, and he calmly went about the process of spreading out his bedroll and banking the fire for the evening without regard for her protests, much as he had done during their journey when she and Edge sniped at each other endlessly and he simply went about the task of setting up their camp for the evening while Rosa tended to everyone else's wounds.
At length she gave up trying to persuade him not to sleep on the floor and stomped off to her bed. Kain smiled faintly to himself and undressed before lying down on his bedroll. It was not precisely uncomfortable, and it would have been immensely improper for him to share her bed, regardless of his intentions.
He fell asleep with the sound of the wind rustling the grass outside, and awoke in the dark much later with Rydia's skin warm against his and her lips pressed to his.
"Rydia-" he began.
"Touch me," she said, and there was something in her voice that was wrong, but he could not identify precisely what-particularly not when she was doing her level best to distract him with her tongue tracing his earlobe and her hands sliding down his chest and unfastening his trousers.
"Rydia, this is not-you are-"
Her nails scraped along the tops of his thighs, and they seemed sharper than they ought, or perhaps that was incipient panic heightening his perceptions. Her touch sent tingles like thunder spells racing over his skin, and he was finding it rather harder to recall precisely why he wanted to protest.
"You want this," she murmured, her fingers wrapped around him and stroking slowly. "We both do."
Something about that statement tugged at a strand of memory, as though he'd heard it before, but it was hard to chase down that memory with Rydia being deliberately distracting. With her free hand, she caught one of his and brought it to her breast. His fingers curled around the smooth curve of flesh, and she made an approving noise.
"Rydia, I should not," he said, trying to withdraw his hand. She held it against her skin, slim fingers surprisingly strong on his wrist.
"And why not?" she asked, brushing kisses along his jaw and down the side of his throat. "I am an adult, and full old enough to make my own choices."
Kain hesitated. "Are you sure this is truly what you wish, Rydia?"
She made a fierce, frustrated sound and her teeth scraped his collarbone. "Touch me, damn you, Kain!"
Still, he was slow to obey, but his hands slid over her skin slowly, feeling the multitude of tiny scars she had acquired when they sought to put an end to Golbez's evil. She twisted in his grasp, agile and quick, and guided his hands as she wished. He had thought her an innocent, but there was something in the way she moved that suggested perhaps he had been mistaken. He was not one to rush this, but when he tried to ease their pace, she acted with surprising strength to turn him over onto his back, and poised herself above him.
In the faint red glow of the fire, her hair looked oddly light-coloured, and her gaze was focused and fierce. She wore naught save for a crystal amulet on a golden chain that swung between her breasts as she lowered herself onto him. She moved fast, and fierce, and he found himself swept along with her, like detritus in the wake of a tornado. At last she threw her head back with a keening cry and her nails scraped sharply down his chest, leaving sting red furrows. That was enough to send him over the edge as well, and he feared he might leave bruises on her hips from the force of his grip.
She smiled down at him, breathing hard, and there was something suddenly all too familiar about that smile. With a sinking feeling, he recalled exactly where he had heard her earlier words before.
"You're despicable, Valvalicia," he said with as much calm as he could muster.
She laughed, shaking back Rydia's hair, and ran her palm over his chest. "That took you long enough," she said, blue eyes bright.
"Give her back," Kain said, pushing her to the side and twisting so that she lay upon the bedroll and he could sit up.
"I rather like this body," she said. "It helps that she's attracted to you anyway."
Kain considered his options, and found he had very few. He very much doubted he was capable of killing Valvalicia a third time without doing fatal harm to Rydia, at least while the Fiend of Wind possessed the summoner's body. Yet he could not leave things as they were, for to let the Fiend loose upon the world again-in a body as powerful as this one-was unconscionable.
He felt fingertips against his wrist. Rydia was looking at him out of her own green eyes. "The amulet," she whispered, and then her eyes deepened to blue again.
Kain lifted a hand slowly to tuck strands of her hair behind her ears. Valvalicia smiled at him from Rydia's face. "That's right," she said. "You remember how good we were-"
Kain tangled his fingers in the golden chain and yanked. The chain snapped, and Valvalicia screamed.
"Wrap it in something!" Rydia ordered in her own voice, then choked and clutched at her throat, eyes wide as she fought for breath. Kain grabbed his discarded shirt and wrapped the amulet in it, then hesitated unsure what to do for Rydia.
"Summoning chamber," she choked out. "Upstairs."
He swept her into his arms and ran up the stairs, the shirt still clutched in one hand. There was but one chamber on the upper floor, with a circle inscribed on the floor and multiple intricate symbols inscribed within it. Rydia was making tiny choked sounds, clutching at empty air around her throat. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"What do I do, Rydia?" he asked, and hated the edge of fear and uncertainty to his voice.
She grabbed the shirt from his hand and unrolled it, flinging the amulet into the center of the circle. A flash of dazzling light blinded him momentarily. When at last he could see around the spots in his vision, he saw Valvalicia floating in the center of the circle, snarling, and Rydia bent double beside him, gasping for air.
After a few moments she straightened up and sketched a complex shape in the air with her fingers. She spoke in a deep voice that echoed of power in a way reminiscent of Golbez, which sent chills crawling down his spine. He did not understand the words she spoke, but he understood their effect well enough. Screaming curses, Valvalicia faded from view, and when she was gone, naught remained in the circle save the sigils. The amulet was gone.
"Rydia?" He turned to her, and laid a hand lightly on her shoulder. She shook her head.
"Let me get dressed," she said, "and I will tell you."
"I'm sorry," he said, and had never felt so awkward in his life. "About before."
The way her lips curved wasn't exactly a smile, but it eased some of the tension twisting in his stomach. "Don't be."
She led the way downstairs, and in short order they were both clothed and seated at her tiny kitchen table. She stared at her hands, twisting together in her lap, for several long moments before she spoke.
"I wanted to improve my summoning skills," she said, "and so I thought to learn to summon the Four Fiends. She was the first I called, and as I had already defeated her in battle, I demanded her summoning token. She gave it to me, but...I didn't know. I didn't even realize that she could control me like that until I-I guess you'd say I woke up-and she was...I mean I was....and you were..." Her fair skin flushed bright red, and she clasped her hands tightly in her lap.
"I am so sorry," Kain said, and could not look at her. He had taken her innocence not once, but twice, and both times here in this valley.
"It is I who should be sorry," she said in a very small voice. "I should not have trifled with such power."
"You didn't know," Kain said, reaching across the table to tilt her chin up so that she had to look him in the eye.
"I did," she insisted. "I fought her just as you did."
"You knew her power, yes, but not how insidious she could be." Kain shrugged. "Neither did I, when first I encountered her."
Rydia looked away. "She-I know what she said to you, when you tried to stop her."
Now it was he who stared at his hands in his lap. "What I did was unforgivable. Twice now I have wronged you beyond words."
Her fingertips slipped under his chin, exerting pressure until he looked up at her. "It is not, perhaps, the way I would have chosen," she said, "but I am not angry with you for it."
Kain held his tongue, for he had no words worth speaking. Rydia rose, and he stood along with her.
"I should go," he said after a moment.
"I wish you wouldn't," she said, and stepped closer to him. Her arms slid around his waist, and she rested her head against his chest.
"Do you truly wish me to stay?" he asked.
"Yes." She looked up at him, and in her face he saw only Rydia, no lingering shades of Valvalicia.
Slowly his arms closed around her. She smiled faintly, and pressed closer to him.
~*~
Author's Note: Yeah, so, Kain and Valvalicia completely took over this story without my permission. Originally I had in mind a much darker ending in which, after Kain realizes that Valvalicia is puppeting Rydia, Valvalicia kills Kain and no one else is any the wiser to her trick, but I wasn't sure how that would go over, so I went for a slightly lighter touch. I would be happy to also provide you with the darker ending if you choose.
Concrit (indeed, feedback in all forms) is welcomed with open arms and lots of Internet cookies.
--Celtic Star