Now for Room #2: Cecil's dream. More Cecil abuse here folks, may not be for the faint of heart or rabid Cecil fan people. You've been warned, please no flames. You CAN skip this one if you absolutely want to, but it has some stuff Cecil himself needs to figure out about his brother. ...This also turned out considerably longer than i intended. Gomen...

I struggle for each breath as he holds me up..then turns to regard a figure I'd taken only minor note of in all of these visits...a cloaked person who sits ever silent, never interfering. Even now it doesn't, something that seems to both please and surprise Golbez. He pulls me up off of my feet and throws me acrossed the room...

I never would have thought a wizard so fond of violence that has nothing to do with magic. Then again- nothing about my brother has been particuarly normal...The same could, I suppose, be said for me...

The impact is far from gentle, and jars parts of my body I'm decently certain have already begun to fracture, but he isn't satisfied with simply that. A foot comes down on my back as I try to rise, a cruel smirk leveled down in my direction as I attempt to roll away. I don't try to attack him- I never do. Beyond being pointless in a place where he clearly controls every aspect....he is my brother. I cannot fight my own brother..not again.

And I think he knows that, damn him....

"Why do you hate me so much..? If you ARE Golbez- what reason do you have? Shouldn't your hatred be for the one who took you away?!"

He offers no answer at first, merely grinding his heel into my back as he apparently loses himself in thought- then he leans down to catch my hair and drag my head up and force it to turn to face him- my neck and back screaming with the motion. So much for the theory that dreams don't hurt...

"Hate him..? Why should I? He was the first one to give a damn about me!"

Now that wasn't the reply I was expecting. He takes his foot from my back and lands a solid kick to the kidney, a second one used to ungently "nudge" me over onto my back. He kneels down then, grabbing my jaw and squeezing as he meets my eyes- his hatred worn as plainly as a crismon scarf on snow....Still, he doesn't strike again, yet. He seems to be searching my face for something- and upon failing to find it, he makes a disgusted sound and backhands me hard. I can taste a sharp, coppery tang in my mouth shortly thereafter....but he doesn't renew his attack. He's simply watching me as I pull myself to my feet again, testing my balance...

"Are you really that great a fool, Golbez....?"

"Am I the fool? Here you are- the great Paladin who saved the world from an ancient alien's hatred and desire to see it ruined- battered and torn almost apart by his own bloodkin for the second- or was it third now?- time in his life! Feh- how could they have ever favored a weakling like you over me?"

I can only blink at him a moment, lost. To say I have no idea of what he's talking about would be putting it far too mildly...I was barely learning to walk when we had been seperated. Something that rare, sarcastic side of my mind is informing me I may need to learn to do again as his gaunleted fist finds home in my midriff. That coppery taste returns to my mouth once again- then slips from between my lips as he pulls his fist back, only to slam it home again.

From that point on- he appears quite through with talking. It's not until I'm in the throne beside Rosa, barely able to raise my head, that he pulls back again...glaring down at me as he looms over the throne. I can feel his rage about me- his very contempt and loathing for everything I am and represent. Why..? Zemus was the one who had taken him away, who had-

"-acknowledged I even existed."

"Eh?"

I blink up at him as best I can, and am awarded with a far too knowing a smirk...

"You forget "dear" brother- this is my domain. I know every little thought that crosses your mind. Are you really that blind?"

His fist slams into the throne beside my head...and a sickening realization is starting to spread. This time.....he won't stop until my death has come about of this. I can see it in his eyes, in the way he stands. Whatever's been holding him back before now- no longer is. Though it seems violence isn't the only thing that was being held back....

"Tell me, "dear" brother- what is it like to be the one they favor eh?"

Now where had that come from...?

"I don't-"

"Oh of course you don't! Innocent, pure Cecil- the perfect heir to the Paladin's Light. Oh how they just LOVED you, little brother."

Armored fingers close about my chin and drag me forward, nearly crushing the bone as he makes me meet him eye to eye..and I can finally see something beyond meaningless rage. Pain...I see no hatred in those eyes- only a distant kind of pain...

"What was a simple black mage to that? How could I possibly compare to my utterly perfect little brother when I was nothing but some common, useless little black mage no Paladin would ever take pride in! I cast my first spell when I was only five.... few humans can do that. Few lunars can! And do you think they even noticed? oh of course not. Not when they had their precious little heir!"

He jerks me out of the throne, casting me to the ground below the dais, contempt in his eyes....

"Such a pity this is how their precious heir will end, isn't it?"

He holds his hand out- a sickly light rising from it. I've seen it many times- black magic. I've also seen the spell it's forming now few times in my life, to my gratitude. Now it may be the last one I see....

"Meteo?!"

"Of course- only the BEST for my perfect little brother eh?! Be sure to give mother and father my regards!"

He raises his hand to release the spell......

And his hand is caught by another's, the fingers forcibly curled down by the grip as a calm, steady voice I can recall only hearing once in my life speaks out, shocking Golbez into stillness...

That is enough, Golbez...

Klu Ya releases Golbez's hand only to capture the wrist, ignoring his increasingly angry and desperate attempts to get free...then he nods to me.

The time of this dream is about to end, Cecil. The ones you came with have done their parts- now you must return to reality and do yours there.

Golbez is still fighting to reclaim his hand from our father as he speaks, hissing out words in a language I'd never heard before, then a rumble passes through the air. At the table, the cloaked figure has suddenly moved, rising to stand- then freezing when apparently noticing there are three other people here, not two. The rumbling returns as it steps forward, apparently about to speak....then the walls begin to fall. Baron is collapsing- something I pray I see only in this nightmare and never in reality. The figure flees as everything falls apart, though it seems I will not be here to see it to it's end. Already, the dream is fading, darkness slipping over it and pulling it away. Before it vanishes completely, all I can see is Klu Ya forcibly holding Golbez so he can't see what's happening- a parent protecting their child from seeing their own end as everything vanishes into blackness with these final words.

Protect Golbez, Cecil...He needs you more than he will ever admit even to himself....

You are all he has left.

And then my eyes open- to Rosa leaning over me in tears, shaking me. Every inch of me is nothing but pain.... every blow felt in the dream apparently felt here as well.... She starts to smile, to say something to welcome me back into the safety of the waking world when my words steal away her joy before she can voice it..

"How is Golbez?"

(Continued in: Shattered Soul)