So, now to the "grande finale" (as one nice reviewer put it :), though it's not grande, but… quiet…

28.

Covering the ground

Having destroyed the stone, Cecil's next worry was about Rosa, who they had left behind with her father. He and the rest of the group quickly hurried back into the anteroom. By now, Rosa's father had stood up and was listening intently to what his daughter told him, his expression confused, but also gentle. As the Queen of Baron noticed the others, she stopped and looked at Cecil enquiringly, only to direct her gaze to Kain a second later.

"Have you destroyed the stone?" she asked the Dragoon, ignoring her husband completely.

"What? Yes, Cecil has…" Kain frowned and turned to his friend:

"Cecil, what the hell did you say to her? We're all not very happy about the way you tricked us and went off alone, but obviously you've really spoiled your chances with Rosa…" he whispered.

The Paladin sighed. "I know - I made a terrible mistake and I've got no idea how I can make up for it… As Rosa gave me the crystal, I thought that she wasn't that mad, but it seems that in the meanwhile, she has changed her mind..."

He decided, though, that he could at least address Morrison: "How are you feeling, Sir?"

"Well, I have to admit that I don't really understand much of what's going on here, but due to the patience of my dear daughter, I've already regained a lot of lost memories …" the elderly man told him friendly - it was hard to believe for Cecil that this well behaved man had tried to kill all of them for several times.

"So it is true that you were suffering under amnesia?" The Paladin inquired further.

Morrison nodded. "It seems to me that way… I woke up one day in the hut of some fisherman on an island I did not know - and I did not really know much about myself, as well… But the memory really leaves me when it comes to the point from which this man named Mallack talked to me," he said seriously, "It seems that I said and did quite some terrible things under his control… Even if it does not make up for things, I'd like to apologize for this and to thank you for bringing me back to my senses…" He bowed before Cecil:

"My daughter already told me that you're not only her husband, but have also become the current King of Baron. My liege…"

Mallack's bitter words of people blindly following their King came into Cecil's mind, "I don't want that people follow me that way - but haven't I expected that they just blindly trust me in the case of Golbez?"

He held up a hand, motioning Morrison to get up. "There's no need to be so formal, Sir… When we're back home, you can decide if you want to enter Baron's army again, but no matter what you decide to do, I would be very glad if you would call me just 'Cecil'. After all, we're family…" he said.

"Very well, Cecil. So please don't call me Sir, as well…" Morrison smiled. "I think we will get along fine… Margaret must be very happy about the man her daughter has chosen, as well."

Behind Cecil, Kain started to laugh and was soon followedby the others. As Cecil looked at Rosa, he saw that she too was grinning, although she avoided his gaze stubbornly.

"Why are they laughing?" Morrison wondered.

The young King of Baron cleared his throat. "They're only happy that you have regained your memory concerning your family… And now we should finally leave this place - Cid is waiting for us!" he quickly changed the subject. He also really wanted to leave the mines as soon as possible - they were a dark place, in which he had made bitter decisions and experiences.

***

The walk outside took longer than expected as several of the friends were wounded and tired, but finally they reached the mouth of the mine, cold autumn air greeting them. The sky was grey and cloudy, but then again, anything was better than the dark, oppressive tunnels they had just left.

Cid, who had been guarding the airship all the time, was visibly happy to see that everyone was alive and greeted Morrison friendly - he still remembered Rosa's father well. In fact, Morrison's polite and honourful behaviour made it easy for most of Cecil's friends to forget the pains he had caused them -- with the exception of Kain, who still regarded the other man suspiciously and tried to stay clear of him.

Morrison left his daughter alone for a while and went over towards Cecil, who was standing at the railing together with Edge and Rydia, waiting for the airship to take off. "I'm the one who wounded Kain that badly, right?" he asked Cecil, regret in his voice, "I cannot believe that I did that - I knew you and him since you were little kids… Can he ever forgive me?"

"Kain has gone through a lot lately," the Paladin calmed him, "it might just take a while until he fully trusts you."

"And I deserve nothing less…" The elderly man replied, "If I had been stronger I would not have fallen for Mallack's tricks…" He bowed his head. "Right now, I'm just happy that soonI will have my family back, but with each passing second my memory clears and I'm frightened of what I might remember…"

"We all will get hunted by the memories of this journey…" Yang said quietly next to them, "Mallack tricked us all and many things have been done or said that hurt. We can only hope that we will find the strength to make up for them…"

"Yes, that's the right cue!" Edge suddenly burst out. "Golbez!" He shouted across the deck, "About what your spell did to me: You will pay for--"

"I know…" The long haired wizard interrupted him with his dark voice and went over to the ninja, his expression earnest and devoid of sarcasm, "During the whole journey, I have not done much to make you trust me and even in the future this will probably not change much. However, I never wanted to endanger any of you… and…" For once, there seemed to be real regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry… And of course I'm willing to pay for the things I did - just go ahead with whatever you want to do to me…"

Edge limped a bit closer to the black wizard to take a better look at the other's face to see if he was joking - this was not the Golbez he knew. Then, he said as seriously as he could:

"I'm very happy that you're willing to pay!" Edge pointed towards the burnt rag at his legs and a broad grin spread over his face. "How about if we start with the trousers?"

For several moments, Golbez just stared at the roguish, blue haired young man before him, then he slowly raised an eyebrow and a sigh escaped his lips. It was difficult to tell if it sounded desperateor relieved…

"You," Golbez looked at Edge, "I nearly fried into a pile of dust and him…" he glanced at Cecil, "I nearly strangled, but both of you don't really seem to care…" He shook his head, "I'd like to say that you're hopeless cases, but the plain truth is that your behaviour is simply beyond me. One could come to think that such things as hope and trust exist after all, as you always cling so dearly to them… " Still shaking his head in incomprehension, he turned his back to them and slowly went to another part the deck.

"I really wonder what's the matter with Golbez… He seems…changed…" Rydia wondered.

"I don't know if I like him better, though…" Kain murmured. "You're looking worried, too, Cecil…"

His friend nodded. "Yes, but for once not about him. I'd like to return to Baron right away, but first, we will have to take a last risk: We need to check Mysidia, to see if the destruction of the black stone has had any effect on the people… If the burning anger of the wizards has subsided, we can be quite sure that the spell over the other followers of Mallack has been broken, as well."

~*~

They arrived at Mysidia only some hours later, this time though, landing near the gates of town. Cid and Morrison stayed on the ship - even if the townspeople were no longer under Mallack's control, Cecil feared that the appearance of the former General of the Dark Paladins might cause a commotion.

"My appearance will stir up trouble, enough…"

As the friends approached the town once more, everyone became very silent - not only were they anxious if the destruction of the black stone had any effect, but too many bitter memories were connected with their last visit. As they had arrived at the town gates, they were stopped by two Mysidian wizards:

"We're sorry, but we can't let you through. The town is closed to visitors due to...inner affairs…" one said.

"Inner affairs?" Yang frowned.

Just then, the guards noticed the identity of the group before them. "Wait, you're the group around King Cecil!" One man exclaimed agitated. The Paladin blanched instantly - was the whole nightmare he had been able to escape once starting again? To his surprise, the guards suddenly bowed slightly before him: "The Elder was waiting for your arrival! Please come on through!"

"The Elder?" Cecil wondered, "So does that mean that--"

"Paladin Cecil! And his friends! You are all alive!" A familiar voice greeted them: It was the Elder who was approaching the town gate with opened arms. "Have you destroyed the Black Stone?"

Cecil nodded. "Yes… And Mallack is dead. We were not sure if the spell would break his hold over the people, though… It's a first relief to see that you're alive… Are Palom and Porom--"

"They are well…" the Elder reassured him, "It was like I told you - the hate of my people was only directed on you, and they had no interest in hurting me or the people around me. They locked us into the crystal room, though, so that "we might have time to think and come to our senses" as they called it. We were already brooding about how we could escape, as suddenly the door was unlocked again: It was one of the wizards who had arrested us before and who now was very surprised to find us… It was then, that we slowly realized that the spell over our people was breaking. However, most of them all are still confused and don't know what they have been doing during the last few days…" His expression became worried, "I don't have to tell you that it will be a lot of work to come to terms with what has happened…"

"Yes, and a lot of things are not changeable any more… "Although the Paladin felt relieved that the spell over the people had broken, another question was nagging him. "Elder, you have not by any chance found a body near the coast?" he asked, fearing and craving for the answer at the same time.

"No… I'm sorry…" The old man told him. "The current along the coast is very strong. It usually drags everything into the open sea…"

A stifling silence laid over the group - Dawn was indeed forever lost to them...

"But even if her body is lost, my guilt will stay…"

"Why did it just have to end like this? It makes everything we have accomplished so bitter…" the Paladin murmured. "And then there's Jonas'…"

"What about me?" A young voice asked suddenly. Cecil raised his head slowly; what he beheld, he could not believe.

"J…Jonas?" he stammered, regarding the boy before him with big eyes. "You're…alive?"

"Is that a problem for you?" the boy riled, but then started to grin. "Well, to tell the truth I thought as well that I would kick the bucket… As all this mad people stormed towards me, I decided to try using a Nuke spell to stop them… I don't know what had gotten into me in that minute; casting this spell in that narrow passage would have meant the death for everyone in it! So it was for once a good thing that it failed--"

"But I saw the explosion!" Cecil interrupted him.

Jonas rolled with his eyes. "I was just about to tell that, stupid! It failed not completely but created some kind of explosion in midair. Some peeps got hit by falling parts of the wall and it knocked everyone out for a while, but no one got seriously hurt… By some kind of miracle, the pressure of the explosion was so great that it hurled everyone into safety…" He ended his explanation.

"This--this is really unbelievable…" Cecil smiled. "I'm so glad that you're well! I need to thank you--"

"Yes, know, I know, Paladin…" Jonas was rather offhanded as always. "I'll be sure to remember your promise now and then. And now go--shouldn't you check if your own Kingdom still stands? Not--"

"Not that I would care..." Cecil finished the boy's sentence for him.

"Exactly," The young boy grinned and Cecil noticed once again that something had changed in the other's features since they had met for the first time: although Jonas was still temperamental and would never act really friendly towards him, his gaze contained no longer the fiery hate that had driven him before. The Paladin wished that Dawn could have seen the change in the boy…

Taking up Jonas' suggestion, the group around Cecil said goodbye to the Elder and took the path back to the airship.

Accidentally, Cecil was walking next to Rosa - since they had left the mines, she had not spoken one word to him.

"Since Kain has returned to Baron and the whole mess started on Mt.Ordeals, we have quarreled quite often…But this time, I'm really worried. My words must have hurt her very much and I can understand why…" he thought, while watching her shyly out of the corner of his eyes.

"Do you see? I was right, after all…" Rosa casually remarked, suddenly.

"What?" Cecil looked at her, surprised.

"You're still with me at my side, once again…" his wife replied, without looking at him. "Although this time you nearly made me believe that everything was lost. No, maybe for a moment I did believe it… As you went away, and I knew that I might loose everything that's dear to me, something inside of me was about to break. I… I just couldn't accept that it had to end like this, and so, I did what I've done so often: I ran after you… Though this time, I informed the others first…"

"And this time, it was good that you ran after me…" Cecil admitted, though it was hard for him to accept, "If you hadn't arrived at the right time, Mallack would have--"

"I know…" Rosa bit her lip, and suddenly looked at him very seriously, "still, my running after you does not mean that I've forgotten what you said to me in the mines… That's why--"

"You're still angry with me and you really have all right to do so…" Cecil sighed, wondering why they hadn't yelled at each other until now; maybe they both were just too exhausted for that. "So what now?" He asked carefully, "the most horrible thing is that I don't know if we can fix what has happened… My behaviour was so stupid…"

"Yes, that it was…" Rosa agreed a bit more sharply, her gaze directed on the path before them.

Her husband frowned. "I don't really know why I always feel obligated to solve certain things alone… And this time, my decision even turned out to be wrong…"

"How good of you to notice…" his wife remarked, not without sarcasm, which was a seldom shown trait of her. "So, will you ever again take such suicidal actions?"

There was no sense in pretending. "You know me, Rosa: Yes, probably I'll do such a thing again if it comes to it. Though I hope that it doesn't…" Cecil admitted quietly. He was certain that with this statement, he had destroyed the last traces of understanding and sympathy for him and that at the latest now, his wife would become really furious.

However, Rosa stayed calm. "Alright. I just wanted to know…"

Surprised, Cecil's gaze shottowards her and he anxiously waited for her to continue. "That means…?"

"That means that next time something like that in the mines happens, I will not make such a stupid scene as I did this time: I'll just let you go!" Suddenly she smiled mischievously, "and then I'll just run after you again and believe me, you will not be able to do anything against it…"

"We will see about that…" was Cecil's first thought, but he knew better than to starta quarrel right now:

"Rosa… Does that mean that you can forgive me?"

His wife suddenly came to a halt. "Maybe…" For a moment it seemed as if she wanted to embrace her husband and kiss him, but something seemed to hold her back. "You know, I'm still feeling a bit angry, so I might consider telling my mother about your irresponsible behaviour…" she teased.

"Then I don't know why you have helped your husband in the mines, Rosa…" Kain had walked up to them. "Death by Mallack's hands would surely have been better than what Margaret will do to him!"

"Yeah, mock me as much you will, Kain…" Cecil retorted. "After all, I'm not the only one who has to fix things, aren't I right?"

Kain shot him a half offended, half amused look. "You know, all this time you spent with your brusque brother really has rubbed off on you - you're getting too direct for my taste… Still, I'll think about your words when we're back in Baron."

"Yes…" Cecil nodded, "we all will have to think about quite a lot of things when we're back." As he felt Rosa's fingers intertwining with his, he knew that he wouldn't have to do it alone, at least…

~*~

As night was falling in, they finally arrived at Baron. The streets of the town were nearly completely empty and allowed Cecil and his friends to hurry rather unnoticed to the castle.

"Your Highness!" the guards at the drawbridge greeted them. "We were already worried about your absence…"

Cecil noticed to his relief that no one of them asked him about Golbez's escape. Still, his brother was a problem. "Master Golbez is with me, as well… Is he allowed to enter?" The question sounded strange even to him, but he had to make sure that his brother was safe.

The guards looked at him, not able to hide their confusion. "Your Highness? You're asking strange things… It is your castle--"

"I know. What I mean is--" Cecil did not know how to put it. "You know that the Golbez I'm talking about is the same that took control over Baron during the Crystal Wars?" he asked unusually bluntly.

The guards exchanged uneasy glances. "We've already suspected that…" one guard said, but suddenly saluted: "But we do trust your judgment, your Highness… After all, you were a Dark Knight as well and we all know how you changed."

In the shadows behind Cecil, Golbez began to chuckle quietly, "And you think you can apply this simple observation ontome?"

"Golbez!" Cecil pleaded - obviously his brother had not changed that much, after all. He turned his attention back to the guards. "I thank you for your trust, but I think that I acted a bit too secretive concerning my brother. It may come a bit late, but you don't have to keep your suspects a secret any longer. However, I would ask you to spread as well that if any of Baron's citizens have worries regarding my decision to let Golbez stay in Baron,they should bring their worries forth, so that I might ease their fears…"

The guards were slightly taken aback by the request of their King, which came totally unexpected and lay not really in their normal line of work, but nodded enthusiastically, nonetheless.

"Now that this is clarified, you might want to know if anything of consequence has happened during your absence," the older guard said.

Cecil could not help but dislike the words "you might want to know". It seemed to be the fate of Royalty that others were always telling them what to be interested in. "Though maybe it is better this way than the other…" He thought of the ideas Mallack had instilled in the heads of his closest followers.

"I think that your report can wait until later. Everything looks calm to me," he told the guards, knowing that any report of them was no real proof for the state of his Kingdom anyway, but that he had spoken with its inhabitants himself.

"Well - it is true that nothing really has happened. Except that the castle gates still need some repair due to the storm and then there was this strange story with the open cell door in the dungeon and the unconscious soldier before it… And he swore that he wasn't drunk," one of the watchmen told him.

"What? Oh, that's indeed mysterious. I might take a look in these matters later…" Cecil said and quickly entered the castle before more words about this matter could be lost.

"A storm and a cell door which opened by magic? It seems as if the people here have forgotten everything which has happened, as well…" Kain noticed quietly.

"For the moment… But we cannot be sure if the memory doesn't come back like it did with Morrison…" Cecil said. "A lot of explaining might wait for us…"

"And I see that you have already started with it a moment ago. So do you really think that you can get the people to trust me so easily?" Golbez asked his brother with a raised eyebrow, as they went up the stairs to the castle.

Cecil shrugged. "I don't know, but like I said before: it's a start…"

***

Some castle servants greeted them as they entered the inner halls and some of the older ones started to whisper as they beheld the figure of Morrison - obviously some still seemed to remember the father of their current Queen. It did not take long until the group bumped into Margaret, who was pacing up and down a castle hallway, nervously.

"Rosa! You're back! Are you well?" the elderly woman started to chatter at once, but stopped in mid-sentence, as her eye suddenly fell on Morrison. She instantly paled, raising slowly a hand to her mouth in shock, and it took several moments before she finally approached him, however, warily.

"You…"

Morrison obviously was not feeling better than she and at first only stared at her; the amount of emotions and thoughts surging up in him made it difficult to speak for the man: "Margaret… I'm back…" was the only thinghe could bring forth, and he carefully stepped towards her, taking her into his arms.

"It's…it's really you…" His wife whispered, raising her head to watch his face with unbelieving, tear filled eyes.

"Yes… " Morrison smiled. "It…it has been over ten years, but your eyes--they are still as beautiful as before... As you are…"

"Beautiful? Well, that's what I call real love…" Edge suddenly chuckled quietly. Until now, the friends had watched the couple silently and it was clear that especially Rosa had problems holding back tears of joy.

Like Edge, Kain was less moved in this case: "Maybe now that her husband is back, she will become nicer, Cecil…" he whispered rather spitefully towards his friend. The whole situation was getting too emotional for his taste - or maybe it just brought up memories of Diane.

Just now, Margaret had gotten a better hold on herself and she swallowed some last tears. "Dear… I was so worried!" She suddenly gave the man before her a slight push. "I nearly died out of concern for you! Only because you had to follow some stupid orders! Don't ever leave like that again, do you hear me?" Her voice was sharp all of a sudden. "You idiot!"

Morrison only smiled lovingly at her outburst and embraced her once more: "No, I'll never leave Rosa and you alone again… And it's good to see that you haven't lost your wonderful temper…"

"Wonderful temper?" Kain whispered towards his friend: Cecil was staring at the embraced couple before them, slightly frowning.

"Talk about getting softer…" the Paladin murmured, though for the first time, he had the feeling that at least the part concerning Morrison was a real victory - whereas their other 'achievements' somehow left a strange aftertaste. He remembered of how everything had begun, of how all the friends had celebrated in the big dance hall of Baron the first year anniversary of Zeromus defeat. Just a day later monsters had attacked the Kingdom for the first time and the trouble had begun. 

"But we have won… Why don't we feel like celebrating now?" and although he knew the answer, it was bitter to accept.

"Look…" Rydia suddenly exclaimed. "It's snowing!" For some reason, it sounded sad. Concerned, Cecil went over to the window the girl was now standing at, nearly glad that he could leave the others and his dim thoughts for a while.

Indeed, outside, the first small flakes of the year were falling from the black heavens.

"Soon, the ground will be covered with snow and the winter will make it difficult to work on the broken entrance to the Underworld…" Rydia said softly, and looked quite lost all of a sudden.

"That's right, but spring will come again, as well… Besides King Giott might have already started working on opening the passage," Cecil told her, squeezing her hand. "Do...do you regret that you didn't stay in the Underworld as you had the chance to in the tower of Bab-Il?"

The caller reflected for a moment. "I don't really know… Since my village was destroyed, I was trying to find a place I belong to - this was everything I wanted. However, so far I haven't succeeded in it, although I have seen a lot of places by now…"

"I see…" Rydia's words depressed Cecil - he had hoped that the caller was feeling home in Baron: After all, nor he, neither the others and especially Edge would like to see her leave.

"I have found people, though, whom I trust and like to be with…" A little smile appeared on Rydia's face, but it lessened as she continued: "So I wonder why I'm still not content. On theflight back from the Silveran mine I thought about it and finally I came to the conclusion that maybe not the places I visited were at fault, but that the fault lays in me. Because in the end, it is really all about the people you're with and not the place. It was like that with Dawn, I think. Although she had no home to return to and a lot of her happiness was only pretend, you could it see it in her eyes that, at least, she was truly happy when she was together with you or Rosa…"

"You think so?" Cecil asked glumly, the mental image of Dawn's death still strong before his eyes.

"Her last smile...so sad... But still, it was a smile…"

"Yes. And I could be happy as well with everyone by my side… But something is just missing in me, there's some kind of hollow space and I don't know with what to fill it up…" Rydia's voice got suddenly very quiet.

"Maybe you need some kind of occupation… How about returning with Edge to Eblan?" Cecil suggested, grateful for the change of subject. "Your mission could be to sort out things a bit in his castle. Also, during the last weeks, his character seems to have improved a lot…"

Rydia sighed softly. "I… I know, he's no longer always hiding behind a funny façade. And maybe I have changed as well, for as now I can see him in a different light. However, my feelings have not changed. I like him, I like him a whole lot, but… I don't think that I love him… I believe that I could feel for no one that way, yet - neither for Edge, nor for another man."

"Maybe you just need a bit time… Time to grow up fully…" Cecil watched her friendly, pushing a strand of green hair behind her ear.

"I am grown up!" Rydia suddenly got agitated and stomped with her foot on the floor. She blushed slightly as she noticed that Cecil was grinning. "Well, okay, maybe not totally - you can't expect me to catch up with ten years lost in one year…" Her big green eyes got very pensive all of a sudden. "And I wouldn't want it, as well - since my mother died, I always felt forced to grow up very fast. Even now. So, maybe I'd just like a break from it…"

"Well, as you can't return to the Underworld too soon, you will have quite some time to take that break. And you should also take your time with deciding where you want to spend it," Cecil said gently and laid an arm around her slim shoulders.

"Uh, hum…" Rydia nodded and was already looking a bit happier. For a moment, she and Cecil just watched the falling snow outside in silence - and maybe in the contentment of the nearly impossible friendship that had formed between them and still lasted against all odds. 

"I wonder how it would be if the snow could cover our memories just like it covers the ground. Maybe we would not get hunted by all the sad things that have happened…" the Paladin suddenly wondered.

Rydia chewed her lip in reflection. "Hmm… But wouldn't all the good memories be lost then, as well? And they are sometimes the only things that stay with us…"

"She's right… Still, I wish we all could forget the past just for a little while, so that we might find some peace. Even though we've destroyed Mallack's plan and have survived, the victory tastes so bitter… But still, life must go on…"

Another one of his friends seemed to have had similar thoughts.

"Hey, you bores!" Edge shouted suddenly. "If we don't feel like drinking to celebrate, we could at least drink to forget about our worries for a while…" he proposed, and his suggestion was a very serious one. Everyone looked at Cecil, uncertain, but also expectant.

It was in then that Cecil decided that, now and then, it would hurt no one if he just did what he felt like doing without thinking too much about it. Thus, although his role as King and Paladin might have demanded for a different answer, he proclaimed loudly:

"Edge is right, today we should let our problems rest - let us celebrate the reunion of Rosa's parents and that we are still alive! And now let's find out what the wine cellar has in store for us - or better what Edge has left us! All drinks are on the castle!"

Especially Margaret was very surprised to hear such words from her son-in-law. However, she could find no reason to contradict him…