Notes: Is it just me, or has anyone else ever wondered how they fit four or five people on those Black Chocobos....?

Hm..okay, this part is a little confusing too..but it's meant to be. ^^;; Gomen!

I've never been tired before. Not like this- it's a sensation I'm hoping will pass soon. Sleep would probably accomplish that nicely- but the show before me is simply too entertaining to miss for such a trivial matter as rest.

Before me runs that foolish wizard, Palom- trying so hard to catch a Black Chocobo. He's not having too easy a time of it- to my endless amusement. I hadn't thought those silly, fluffy birds could be much of a threat- and while I'm still certain they wouldn't be to me, they're doing quite a number on Palom. Nor do I intend to "help". We had discovered early on the birds would flee from me even faster than the would from Palom. Of course- I suppose I could suggest a slightly easier method....

"Golbez, HELP!! Don't just sit there staring off into space!!"

That calls me back to reality- to the most strange spectacle of Palom attempting to climb a tree in those overly long robes to get away from the wicked beaks of the birds. Amusing as this is- he truly is wasting my time. I slip down from my chosen perch, the birds scattering before me as I walk up to the tree... Cecil must have imparted wisdom to his followers as well, not merely gained strength from them..because try as I might, I cannot picture my brother climbing up a tree to escape mauling at the beaks of one of these viscious birds.

Then again- my "dear" brother did wear armor...

"You are a wizard, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!! why the hell do you think I'm so bad at this?! Now quit smirking and-"

"Still a child more than you are a wizard."

I turn from the treed wizardling and look where the dark feathered nuisances have retreated to, casting me sulky glares...if they had a single intellegent thought between them, I would almost think they were upset that I had dared interrupt their game. Ah, well..they can sulk all they want. I need a way to Baron and they are the only method of transportation I have right now that won't raise unwanted questions.

"You could have simply done this..."

A simple spell- and one chocobo blinks it's eyes and warks sleepily....head lowering down to be tucked under it's wing. While the others look on in bemused confusion, I set a second under the spell and approach, sending the conscious ones scattering about. Up in the tree, Palom is silent...fuming, I'd imagine.....

"Now that we have our mounts -shall we prepare them for our little trip.....?"

I can see now why Baron had so treasured their airships. Not only for their speed and power- but having the sky all around you, and the ground so far below- it's a heedy feeling. Seeing it from the stars had not inspired such breathlessness- to see even great mountains reduced to nothing more than patches of green and brown below you as you soar overhead....I had never noticed this, when I had worn the chains of Zemus. I had never noticed the clouds, the wind, or how the sun was so much brighter, the sky so much a deeper shade of blue....

Perhaps it's now, at this moment, I can believe my return here was the right thing to have done. For me, if no one else... Nothing in the cold, lifeless enviorment of the Lunarian ship could compare to this....

Angry yelling soon disrupts my peaceful flight- an amusing interlude all in it's own. Lunarians were not an easily angered people. They would sooner think their way through a problem than shout at it. Thus the image of Palom, fighting with his bird every wingstroke of the way, is a sight both new and entertaining. I had always thought one who persues the path of magic would be given to the same road as the Lunarians- thinking before shouting, musing before raging.

I can say this is one of the few times in my life I'm grateful to be wrong. Once the gleam of the initial freedom of the flight has worn off and the length of it settled in- Palom's antics help keep it interesting. Not an opinion he'd enjoy I'm sure.

Still, amusing flight or not, I cannot deny both relief and apprehension when Baron's grassy plains and forests spread below us- the skyline soon giving way to the rise of Baron's low towers and walls. We release the chocobos into the forest nearest the castle and set off for the castle. I am not looking forward to this. I had thought myself gone from this world forever..I am not sure what prompted me to tell one who barely knew me, blood ties or no, farewell. I should have just quietly left...

Palom clearly has no such reservations. He tries to hurry our pace as much as I will allow it, earning many a curious look from passersby until we are before the castle gate. Odd to find it locked against the outside world...my brother had not seemed as one who would deny the world ready access to his domain. I glance at the guards a moment...they had all been under my sway once, it would not be hard to do so again and gain entry...

Palom has his own method, however. He hurries up to the guards, murmured words passing between them. Looks somewhere between alarm and hope show on the guards faces, then they're opening the gates for us to proceed. I hold my questions until we've entered the castle grounds, intending to ask the boy once we're inside...but another thing has my attention shortly after that. This is the castle of the Paladin. His presence here should be so strong, those of magic's darker aspects like myself or Palom should feel at least like we've stepped out into a day far too bright. Yet there isn't the slightest discomfort...his presence is barely even sensed...

"Palom...how long have these dreams been plauging my brother..?"

"I don't know. He only approached the Elder on them a month ago."

The wizard leads on- not to the throne room but instead to the tower Cecil still claimed as his own apparently. This close, I can sense him..but it is still so weak. A light fading fast.....

No guards stop us at the door, though they give me a plenty suspicious look...some childish impulse almost makes me seek some way to tell them my name, simply to see their reaction, but it's one that thankfuly passes quickly and with some embarrassment. We are stopped on the stairs leading into my brother's room however...by Baron's Queen, Rosa. I have seen her three or four times in the past...once for far longer than she likely wanted. And perhaps that time is what allows her to merely glance at me before her eyes are widening in alarm...

"Palom!! What are you-"

"I did not give him much choice in taking me here, Rosa Farrel, and he gave me even less in accompanying me at first. I wish to see my brother."

The blond woman simply glares down at me for a time...for all her urging Cecil to not allow me to leave without saying something to me...some things remain clearly unforgiven. Understandable...I'm certain I'd not be fast to forgive someone who had placed a scythe meant to claim my life after so long over my head after chaining me into a chair. It had been a bit over dramatic, I admit...but it DID get the desired results, did it not?

...Not a point I think I will be bringing up HERE however...

"Rosa..just let him up there. He says he had the same dream too, last night. We'll both be there in case he tries anything...."

Oh now THAT is a laughable reassurance. I'm thinking someone's forgotten our little duel on the beach.....

"..very well....Watch him closely, Palom."

And not a word to me of course. We follow the queen up to my brother's room, and from the moment I cross the threshold, the scents of illness' many forms assault both us. My brother lays on his bed, eyes closed and face far too pale. He thrashes in his sleep, moaning softly in protest to something...I try to catch his words, but Rosa is at his side, shaking him gently to snap him out of the dream and into wakefulness..damn her. Fever-dream or not, that could have been useful....

"Cecil...wake up..you have a visitor..."

The Paladin-King, who's might had led to Zeromus' destruction and scattering, turns his head to lay eyes first on his wife..a movement that takes so much effort sweat beads on his forehead..then he looks to me. There will be no need to tell Cecil who I am. As with Rosa- he had met me often enough to know my face close enough to his that I could only be one person. Then again, Palom said he'd been having those same dreams.....

"Golbez...?"

There's no fear in his voice- only confusion. He struggles to sit up, despite Rosa's attempts to make him stay lying down. For a moment, strength and presence return to him as he turns his attention to his wife and friend, voice evening out.

"Rosa, Palom...I wish to speak to him privately. -Don't argue. Please.."

So firm- until that last word. I can almost hear the loud mouthed child's mental protests as he turns to go back down the stairs, Rosa following only after a moment. A foolish choice..if I had so chosen, then and there, I could have-

"But will you kill me? Or are you so used to thinking like that you haven't learned another way yet? Don't look so startled. I know you well enough by now to guess what you were thinking by that look."

Cecil lays back down on the bed, his strength spent...ignoring the look I'm giving him now. 'I know you well enough by now'? Did he mean the dream-self..? I wait a moment for him to continue- then finally raise a question of my own.

"How long have you been dreaming, Cecil?"

"A year, maybe more."

"And you waited THIS long to ask the elder about them?"

"I was hoping someone would come sooner...."

"What are you talking about?"

The response is not one I expected. The king was so still, so weak looking I did not expect such a quick movement of him. A chill hand darts out from under the covers, catching mine.....and I'm falling. The room is gone- Cecil as well, though I can still feel his almost painfully cold hand closed too tight on mine, dragging me deeper into this darkness. When it finally releases me to fall on my own...I stand again in Baron's throne room, though this time, those within it seem unaware of my presence. I cannot move or speak....though that odd dream-double of myself is doing plenty of that....

"I see my other self has finally arrived as I promised you he would, Cecil. Aren't you happy to have your brother returning?"

Cecil doesn't respond- he merely gives the other a flat, angry glare and then looks away towards the thrones. Only Rosa sits there this time, frozen....

"No angry words to tell me I'm wrong this time? Step more carefully paladin-king, or you'll find the ground taken from beneath you. So has he contacted you yet?"

"What is your purpose in dragging me here? What is it you want?"

"That's not an answer, Cecil."

"And neither is your reply."

"You already KNOW why I....heh. A good try, paladin-king...but you lack our intellegence to pull off such schemes."

My dream-twin turns to look where I am, oddly amused as he approaches and taps..glass? Yes, glass, between the two of us...

"A mirror to imprison and protect. How quaint..."

He taps the mirror again....then simply shatters it to catch me by the throat and drag me out...and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. I can neither speak nor move.....and for all that this is a dream, I find myself struggling to breath... Until a new pair of hands closes on my twin's, dragging them away. Cecil glares angrily at him, then tries to help me to my feet, but I cannot even stand on my own.

"A foolish move to bring him here, Cecil...if you don't play more carefully, you may very well just wind up HANDING me what I want. Go, both of you. But keep this in mind...this world has always lived in a precarious balance. Where there is fire, there must too be water- where there is wind, the earth must be. Yet the final and most important balance of them all has been disrupted by the actions of both of you. I am sure that between your ignorance and my intellegence, Cecil, you'll figure out the final part of that little riddle."

Cecil begins to speak- but the scene is fading fast. And when I return to the waking world once more, I am lying on a bed in the castle's infirmary, a white mage hovering over me. In all my life, I have never been ill. I wish I had kept that record. I close my eyes, slipping back into unconsciousness as a sickening warmth pushes down on my senses...I only hope my illness is not so permanent seeming as my brother's...

(continued in: Whispering Shadows)