24

Last promise

"Holy chocobo! Why did your brother have to run off like that?" Kain cursed. "How shall we ever find him in this maze? All corridors of this dark hell look alike to me!" The group had been following the black crystalline tunnels of Mallack's headquarter for quite some time now, trying to find the place Morrison and Golbez had disappeared to.

"Let's hope that the crystal will protect him…" Cecil said quietly.

"What... What will we do if my father is still with him?" Rosa whispered next to him.

Her husband bowed his head. "I... I--"

"Better decide quickly about that!" Kain suddenly drew his spear from his back - they had just rounded a corner when suddenly Mallack and Morrison appeared in the room right before them.

"What did you do to Golbez? Where is he?" Cecil shouted, drawing his sword as well.

Mallack smiled, his eyes sparkling mysteriously. "You have found us sooner than expected. But it's a bit too early for a fight. Come to the room where the black stone is kept if you want answers… Now I'll just take the--" He looked around the room. "Where is it? Ah well - it doesn't matter, anyway… I guess you will bring it with you if you find it. Warp!" He and his companion were gone in an instant.

"No… They got away, again!" Cecil rushed towards the room, nearly tripping over a little object which was lying on the floor of the corridor. He picked it up, surprised: "The crystal shard..." Suddenly, he got aware of a motionless figure lying on the ground.

"Golbez!" the paladin approached his brother, getting on one knee next to the lifeless figure.

"Golbez… Are you alright?" he shook his shoulder.

"Be careful. Something does not feel right," Kain murmured - he and the others had entered the room rather hesitantly.

Golbez began to move. "Ugh... What happened?" The dark haired wizard slowly rose, holding a hand to his hurting forehead.

"Golbez! Are you alright? Mallack and Morrison were with you…" Cecil's voice was a tad doubtful and he watched his brother attentively.

"He… Mallack tried to manipulate me… He wants my power to help his group. I tried to fight… But I couldn't hurt him with my magic... Too strong…" His expression twisted in pain, but he still managed to get to his feet, again. "In the end, everything went black…"

"How are you feeling now?" Yang asked, a certain mistrust in his voice.

"A bit dizzy. I hope I did nothing during my blackout I might regret later…" Golbez frowned. "Where's the crystal shard?"

"It's here…" Cecil informed him. "I found it lying on the floor... You must have lost it during your fight with Mallack. Luckily he didn't notice that it was lyingall the way in the corridor..." He smiled, a hint of relief in his eyes: "Obviously the crystal has protected you during the fight. See, it was a good thing after all that I gave it to you."

"Maybe…" Golbez grunted, rather embarrassed. He stretched out his hand. "So shall I take it again?"

The paladin shook his head. "No, this isn't necessary."

Golbez raised an eyebrow. "Do you fear that I would bring it to Mallack?"

Cecil looked at him, surprised. "No… But we're already pretty much near his lair, I think... If we all stay together there shouldn't be any reason to--"

"You don't trust me, do you?" Golbez suddenly snapped and grabbed for Cecil's arm.

"Golbez…" The paladin took a step back, wringing himself out of Golbez's iron grasp. "What are you talking about?" Horror crept upon his face, as he saw Golbez's face flush with rage. "What did Mallack do to you?"

"He showed me my true self… And now give me the crystal!" Golbez hissed - with a hostile motion, he went after Cecil, trying to get hold of the shard.

His brother paled: "Golbez! Snap out of it!" 

"Don't talk! Get away from him, Cecil!" Edge shouted.

"No one can get away from me!" Golbez thundered, a mad glimpse in his eyes. "I'll free you from your restricted existences!" He raised his hands.

"Oh no!" Rydia screamed. "If he casts a black magic spell here, its results will be disastrous due to the black stone!"

"Stop it, Golbez!" Cecil shouted, running towards Golbez and trying to knock him down; before he could reach the wizard, the black haired man had stopped in his incantations, grabbed Cecil at the shoulder and threw him to the far wall without effort.

"Fool!" He laughed and started to murmur once again some magical formulas.

"There's nothing we can do right now! Get a move on, Cecil!" Yang shouted. 

The Paladin nodded. Still holding tightly onto the crystal he jumped to his feet and followed the others to the exit of the room. However, they were not fast enough: As they had nearly reached the corridor, Golbez's voice echoed behind them.

"METEO!"

A soaring fire filled the room at once, balls of fiery red and black magic raining onto the group.

"Quickly! Out of here!" Rosa shouted, barely able to avoid on of the magical missiles.

"By Bahamut… I've never seen the spell in such intensity…" Rydia's eyes were wide with astonishment and she could not bring herself to move.

"Rydia! Be careful!" With a swift motion, Edge had grabbed her by the waist and pulled her with him - it was no moment too soon, as the course of another magical stone was heading directly at them and crashed down next to them.

"Damn that--Ouch!" Edge cried out in pain. The burning object had hit his leg.

"Edge!" Rydia clung to the Ninja next to her. Yang was at their side at once and together, they dragged the young blue-haired man out of the room.

"Escape is futile!" Golbez laughed behind them. Before Cecil followed the others into the maze of dark tunnels, he turned around once again, only to behold a sight which seemed to have arisen from his worst nightmares:

Golbez was standing in the middle of soaring fires, though the flames were nothing against the fire of hate that burned in his brother's eyes…

~*~

"Is he following us?" Rydia asked, fear in her voice.

"I don't think so. I bet that Golbez is so sure of his powers that going after us would be an unnecessary effort in his eyes…" panted Kain, helping Edge along the way together with Cecil.

"How are you feeling, Edge?" Rosa enquired with worry.

"Ah... It's only a scratch... Though one that hurts pretty much for that…" the ninja brought forth in a pained voice, but tried to smile, as he saw Rydia's eyes filling with tears. "Don't worry, even though Eblan would be better off without me, like you always say, Rydia, I've no intention of kicking the bucket so soon!"

The caller replied with a half laugh, half sob.

"Still we need to rest somewhere…" Rosa insisted. "The wound needs to get treated!"

"How about right here? We're pretty deep in the maze right now, so we shouldn't be too easy to find," Yang proposed.

"Alright…" Cecil and Kain carefully placed Edge on the floor and then made room for Rosa, who started to cast healing spells on Edge's leg at once. The calf and parts of his left thigh were burnt pretty badly and the fabric of his blue-grey trousers had been reduced to a smoldering, black material with holes in it.

"Look at that!" Edge joked with clenched teeth, "That style might become the new trend in Eblan next summer!"

Kain wasn't in the mood for jokes: "Hopefully we will still be able to see it, then…" he grumbled.

"Kain," Rosa sighed, "could you please leave your dark prophecies to yourself? We have enough problems already… Golbez's magic has eaten itself through the flesh of Edge's leg. I wish that the black stone would strengthen my healing magic as much as it strengthens black magic, but it doesn't. I need your help, Cecil."

The paladin nodded and started to cast some weaker cure spells, as well.

"I didn't want to worsen the mood… But one injured person would have been sufficient." Kain slumped to the floor, holding his side, which had started to hurt due torunning. It frustrated the dragoon immensely that he couldn't fight at his full power. "So now it's not only Mallack and Morrison we'll have to face, but Golbez as well…" he frowned.

"I cannot believe it… How could Mallack manipulate him?" Cecil bowed his head. "Imagine what would have happened if I had given the crystal shard to him…"

"But you did give it to him before…" Kain murmured, a slight reproach lying in his words.

"Yes, I know that this was a mistake and that I should have listened to you," his friend admitted, "But I really trusted him and I wanted to show this…"

"You don't have to explain yourself, Cecil," Rydia said quietly, "we only came that far because we trusted each other, so why should you have made an exception with Golbez?"

The Paladin nodded towards the caller, thankful for her words, even more so as he knew that in her life, it often hadn't been easy for her to trust. Still, he was not sure if trust was enough to solve the situation they were in.

"It might be true that we came that far 'cause we trusted each other, but what about Dawn and Jonas?" He said softly. "All the trust we set in them and they set in us couldn't save them… And Golbez--"

"Cecil! What's the matter with you? We shouldn't start to sound again like we didin the black crystal room before! After all we still have the crystal! I'm sure that there is a possibility that we canbreak Mallack's spell, if we just plan our next step well enough..." Yang tried to sound as hopeful as possible.

"But haven't you seen my father?" Rosa whispered, without looking up from her healing work. "What is there we could possibly do to break the spell? Maybe it isn't a spell after all…"

"Don't say such things, Rosa. He's your father - what he said about you and your mother are surely Mallack's words, not his own…" Edge gasped between clenched teeth. "Your father wouldn't talk to his child in such a way under normal means… Even as they had become monsters, my parents still remembered me in the end and--" He stopped, wishing that if he stopped speaking, the memories would stop as well. "Let's not start with all this whining again. We'll just need to destroy this damn black stone and everything will be alright again..."

"I'm not sure if this is sufficient… I didn't see such a thing around Golbez's neck for example..." Kain balled his fists. "I didn't trust him from the beginning!"

"That's enough..." Cecil suddenly stopped in his healing work and stood up, his voice unusually hard and his expression serious. "Such thoughts will not bring us anywhere. We have to act - now."

Everyone looked at him, surprised that the paladin suddenly did possess such a strength again.

"And what do you think we should do?" Yang asked, frowning slightly. The change in Cecil, who had been rather down just a moment ago, was a bit too sudden for his taste.

"Mallack said to meet him in the room where the Black Stone is kept, so we should try to find it. It would be best if we would split up, though some of us should stay with Edge..."

"But I can wal.. Ouch!" Edge tried to move his leg, but soon had to accept that this wasn't possible.

"See?" Cecil told him. "Rosa, would you--"

"I'll stay with him!" Rydia forestalled him.

"Hey, seems this injury has some good sides after all!" Edge laughed quietly. "Thanks Rydia."

The caller blushed slightly, though it was hard to tell if it was out of embarrassment or anger. "Now don't get any wrong ideas, Edge! Someone needs to stay here and--" She sighed in defeat as Edge was grinning as broadly as he could in her direction, his pain forgotten for a moment. "Okay... No matter what I say, you will getthe wrong ideas…" She rolled her eyes. "I'll still stay… Because I'm worried about you... That's...that's all!"

"Hear, hear!" Edge smiled, but then stopped, knowing that he had gone far enough with his teasing.

"Fine. I think that one person is enough for keeping care of Edge - so let's go!" Rosa stood up and checked the silver rapier at her side.

Cecil looked at her, aghast. "But--"

"Okay, so it's settled!" Kain had not heard the weak protest of his friend. "Yang and I will form one group and Cecil and Rosa the other."

"But no single-handed efforts, okay? We only want to check the surroundings. If we find something, we'll meet here again," Yang added.

"Sure..." Cecil bit his lip and for a moment it seemed that he was trying to avoid Yang's gaze. "So you and Kain will take the south exit and Rosa and I will take the north way."

"But we came from the south..." Yang pointed out.

"Might I remind you that this is a maze, Yang?" Cecil nearly snapped at him. "We passed a lot of corridors on our way here which we didn't examine!"

"Cecil…" The friends stared at the paladin, surprised. Yang most of all.

Cecil's expression softened and he looked nearly ashamed. "Sorry... My temper wore thinwith me... I guess that Golbez's betrayal was too much for me... I have to apologize, my friend..." He bowed slightly towards Yang.

"Don't worry. Together we'll succeed..." The King of Fabul nodded, though watched his Paladin friend with worry in his eyes.

"Yes…" Cecil smiled, though it was a serious one. "It was always an honour fighting by your side."

The skeptical look in Yang's eyes deepened, as well as Kain's frown. "And we will fight many times together still, my friend..." Yang said, irritated.

"Yes, of course... I didn't want to say anything else..." Cecil consoled his friend, earnestly, scattering Yang's doubts. "So let's set out and get done with the whole affair as soon as possible. And as Yang said: No single-handed efforts."

"Yes. Take care!" Kain nodded towards Cecil and Rosa, relieved that his friend seemed to be his old self again. Together with Yang, he left the room through the south exit.

"You take care as well." Rosa smiled at Rydia and Edge.

"I will… I, too, once fell for Mallack's tricks and as you protected me from Kieran, I will do my part to help now. It's something I can do." It seemed that Rydia's fear had given way and had been replaced by a strong will not to give up.

Cecil nodded. "Very well, Rydia… But are you sure that Rosa shouldn't--"

The girl shook her head vehemently. "No. Don't worry - if anyone comes to near to us, he will have to deal not only with my magic, but also with my anger."

"I just hope I won't be the one…" Edge murmured, though his grey eyes sparkled mischievously despite the pain he was feeling.

"I think they will be fine. You can stop trying to get rid of me, darling…" Rosa told her husband. "I'm coming with you."

Cecil sighed in defeat. "Very well. But I had to give it a try…"

They left the room through the northern exit, Cecil leading the way through the maze beyond very surely as if he knew exactly where to go.

"Darling," Rosa whispered next to him. "Can you feel where Mallack is?"

Her husband frowned. "Yeah, for some reason, I know. I knew from the moment he told me to go to the room where the stone is kept. It might be possible that he's directing me there through his thoughts…"

Rosa looked at him, full of surprise. "But if you knew where Mallack is... Why did we have to split up?" She did not receive an answer until they had reached another black crystal room. There, Cecil suddenly came to a halt and turned around to face his wife with a strange, nearly painful expression on his face.

"Rosa… Where Mallack is, your father will be, as well. I can also feel the presence of my brother. He's waiting for me…" He took Rosa's hand in his. "I want to get him back. If the crystal couldn't protect him, I want to…"

His wife shook her golden locks vehemently. "But why can't we all go together? You said no single-handed efforts..."

"Rosa," Cecil implored her, "you saw the state your father is in and Golbez may be in the same one! There's no telling if there's anything…" his voice nearly failed him, "if there's anything we still can do for them. Both have become so powerful - there's no need to endanger any more of us than necessary."

"So you lied to the others to keep them out of danger…" Rosa's words were only a whisper. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "Alright. But at least I'm at your side. Together we can--" She stopped speaking as Cecil suddenly drew her into his arms.

"I'm sorry, but I can't take you with me. This room is as far as you will accompany me…" he whispered into her ear, regret and shame in his voice.

"What!?" Rosa pushed herself out of his embrace violently, visibly annoyed. "Don't start with that again - I thought you had gotten over this stupid "I'm doing it alone" stuff." Her voice began to quiver.

"Rosa! I might be the only one being able to bring Golbez back. Be reasonable."

"Reasonable? Now you should start to be reasonable! Just some seconds ago you said that we couldn't probably break the spell anyway!" Rosa's voice was full of anger. "You're only going because you feel obliged to do so as a Paladin! I'm sick of it… Sacrificing everything for one greater good… Don't you see what your going off alone does to others?" Suddenly tears were beading in her eyes. "What it does to me?"

"Rosa…" Cecil was watching the change in his wife's expression with shock - all the unwavering confidence she had radiated lately had completely disappeared.

"I told you that in the Black Crystal room that I, too, had horrible thoughts…" the young Queen of Baron averted her gaze. "Of all the countless times you went away, of all the people who have left us. Even Dawn… But…" she sobbed and looked up, her gaze now gentle, "But then I looked next to me and I saw that after all that had happened you were still there. No matter how often we quarreled, what dangers we had to face… You were always there. Even now… I'm so afraid of what will happen to my father, but having you by my side gives me strength. We've never faced such a dire situation before, and I can't stand to let you go and just wait for you. Dawn was my friend as well, and Morrison is my father. This is not only a fight for the Blue Planet or our Kingdoms, but for us, personally." She looked her husband deeply in the eyes, laying a slender hand on his cheek. "Cecil, my love… Please let us see through this together…" she pleaded.

Cecil was watching her seriously, but otherwise strangely expressionless as if he was trying to hide his true feelings. Then he bent down his head a bit and kissed her, not passionately, but barely brushing her lips.

"Forgive me… But I can't…" he whispered as he slowly backed away from her. "I'll go now... Please don't try to follow me."

"No!" With a cry Rosa stormed forward and positioned herself in the doorframe leading to the next corridor. "I will not let you go alone!"

"Rosa," Cecil frowned, his voice starting to get an annoyed undertone. "Don't make it harder than it already is for me. Please let me through!" He approached the exit.

"No…" Rosa shook her head stubbornly, tears now running down her cheeks.

"Let me through!" her husband repeated and tried to push her away, carefully, but to no avail. "Rosa, don't behave like a child! We don't have much time!" Cecil's tone was less friendly now, but no matter how much he pleaded, scolded or tried to drag her gently away from the door, his wife withstood his efforts with all her might.

"Rosa! Don't make me do things I might regret later!" The Paladin felt desperate by now, and his tone was sharp.

"You can't scare me. If you want to use violence, go on…" Rosa replied stubbornly. "It would suit you. After all, you don't care what your actions do to others. And believe me: No physical assault could hurt as much as the pain you're causing my heart right now!" she hissed, tears welling up in her eyes again.

Cecil took several steps back at once, his face stricken with grief. "What…what are you saying?" His voice was full of disbelief. "I would never hurt you… Never! I was only trying to provoke you so that you might move aside…"

His wife was sobbing harder now, and he stepped closer again, carefully wiping some tears away from her beautiful face. "I love you more than everything. That's why I need to go alone - I don't want anything happening to you."

"Have you forgotten our promise that night in Baron? You said that you would never leave me. That we would see through all things, together..." Rosa confronted him.

For a moment, Cecil did not know what to say. "She's right. I did promise her that. But that was when--"

"I haven't forgotten our promise and I wished until the last moment that I could keep it," he told her, "but things have become so hopeless! I must act before everything is too late… Please, you must understand!"

As he beheld Rosa's look, the pain in her eyes was nearly unbearable to watch for Cecil, though there was still a last glimmer of hope in them, too. "Then promise me at least that you will come back alive…" she whispered.

"But…"

The glimmer in Rosa's eyes vanished, as the only answer she got from her husband was silence. "Cecil! Give me an answer! Now! Promise it!" She shouted.

"I...I can't promise you that…" the Paladin's mouth was dry and his voice was hoarse. "Your father…and Golbez...they're so strong…"

"Yes, it is true that I don't know if I'll survive…"

Since their last confrontation with Morrison and since Golbez had joined Mallack's side, the Paladin's belief in a victory was swayed - maybe even since Dawn's death, no matter how much he had tried to fight against this hollow feeling inside of him. 

Rosa's eyes grew wide and she desperately tried to find any sign in Cecil's face which told her that he didn't mean what he had just said, but there wasn't. Her husband's expression was deeply serious and full of pain. Instead of telling her again that he couldn't promise anything, he shook his head, slightly, not daring to look her in the eyes. In that moment, the last traces of hope and confidence seemed to fall away from the queen and the colour disappeared from her cheeks, her face becoming a pale mask, her eyes turning bitter.

"She's content because she is not alone."

Cecil suddenly remembered Dawn's words and realized to the full extent what his wife was going through right now. He had put her in a hopeless situation in which there was nothing, but to loose: If it came to a fight with Mallack, she would either loose her father or her husband, and after what Cecil had said to her, it was very likely that she would loose both and companions like Golbez, as well.

Regret and sorrow raced through the Paladin with an intensity he had not known before - what he had to do seemed to be the hardest decision in his life until now.

"Dawn… I wonder if you would have scolded me. Probably, with you, we would have ended differently than this…" he wondered, but she was no longer there. However, this moment was real and he had made his decision. He swallowed hard and carefully tried to move Rosa out of his way once more - this time, she complied wordlessly and without any resistance: something seemed to have broken in her.

For a moment Cecil still hesitated - leaving Rosa like this seemed to be the greatest crime he could possibly commit. He desperately wished in this moment that he just could turn around and take her in his arms, wished that his wife could read his thoughts, as words could never fully express what she meant to him, how great the love was that he felt for her. And how great his shame of having to betray her so badly was. He suddenly felt a pull inside of him - like some dark power was motioning him to come.

"Golbez…Or Mallack…I have to go..." Before Cecil left the room, he looked once more at his wife: She stood motionless, her back turned to him. Even her sobbing had ceased.

"Can you ever forgive me for this?" he asked quietly, but she didn't answer, letting his words die away as if they meant nothing to her. Bowing his head, the Paladin turned around and was about to go, but Rosa's voice held him back:

"Cecil… If you don't come back alive... I'll... I'll kill you!"

The Paladin nodded - what sounded like a joke was only another sign of the desperation he had plunged his wife into and it filled him with sadness. "Please forgive me…" he whispered and started to walk away. Behind him he could feel how the mask of Rosa broke, how she couldn’t hold back her tears and fears any longer.

As, behind his back, his wife slumped down onto the floor, crying, Cecil thought that his heart would break…