Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Celestial Rise ❯ Foreshadowing ( Chapter 19 )

Celes Chere opened her eyes and blinked a few times. Her vision met the white ceiling of the room. The first sight triggered a memory. Her mind obligingly reiterated.

A tessellation of white squares tiled adjacently to each other. The tilers could've placed the rows juxtaposed to the previous one. They also could've slanted them, at least, with the walls as the basis so they would look like diamonds. Even the entire lobby is a square. And by the small size of it, it's more like a waiting room in the Imperial Army Infirmary! I'm thinking too much again. I've lost count of how many times I've thought about this same old topic in my head.

Celes closed her eyes again and explored her reconstructed mind.

This is not the lobby of the Magitek Lab where Jasom is usually stationed. This is not the waiting room in the Imperial Army Infirmary. I am in the Infirmary. Though I've lost count of how many times I've thought about this same old topic in my head before, I remember now.

Nine. Nine times. I remember… everything. I remember the dreams. I remember the rain, the lightning and the ice. I know that I did not hear thunder. I remember having trouble sleeping. I remember the evening training session, Cid, and Dr. Deregasi. I remember Beigeletter, General Cristophe, and his unexpected news. I remember the fainting.

I remember the faces of all the people in the Magitek Lab where Cid works. I remember the faces of his 'key staff.' I remember the argument vividly in my mind. I even remember the complex equations that I was staring blankly at in his office, though I do not know what it means.

I remember the Oath, the last moment of my breath--Cristophe, Beigeletter, Llurd. The pain. The numbness. The horror.

I remember all of these clearly… and more.

Why?

Why do I live again? How?

I know how. But I do not know why. I should know why. But why do I not remember?

The door to her room hissed open, and in walked Cid. Celes did not move. She held her eyes shut.

"Celes?" Cid spoke gently, but Celes did not respond. "Celes, it is I--Cid. I know you're conscious. The computers do not lie."

Celes opened up her eyes, but she did not look at him. "You're safe now, Celes. I'm so glad you're safe! It's a miracle!"

Safe? Why do I doubt that very much? Miracle? I will be the judge of that.

"Celes, please look at me. Say something. Please tell me how you feel."

Celes looked at him coldly and spoke finally, "The computers do not lie, Cid. You tell me how I feel."

Cid was taken aback. The words sounded odd--hurtful. Cid forced himself to dismiss it immediately. "I-uh-according to the monitors, you're back to normal!" Cid announced excitedly.

Normal? Being brought back to life isn't normal; it isn't natural.

Cid's eyes started to tear up. "I thought I'd lose you right before my eyes agai--" Cid stopped himself abruptly and pretended to choke in his sobs to cover it up.

Celes turned her head sharply. "Again?" she asked, her cold mask breaking apart to reveal an intrigued look.

"What? Oh--don't mind a confused and stressed out old fool like me. My guilt's been haunting me when I saw you there on the operating table." Cid drew a deep shuddering sigh and exhaled. He wiped his eyes--they were red. He had been crying. Celes now just noticed them.

Celes's face changed dramatically. She smiled weakly, raising her hand slowly to touch his. "I'm alive again, Cid. And I intend to stay alive. Thank you," she said softly.

Cid smiled back. He looked ten years older than when she last saw her in his lab. Surely, I wasn't dead for that long.

"I'll personally make sure you stay alive, Celes. I promised on your mother's grave that I'd keep you safe. And if I have to sell my soul to the third fiend of Ifrit's Abyss to do it, I would without hesitation."

"I know you would, Cid. Let's just hope it wouldn't come to that," Celes replied with her usual gentle smile.

Cid nodded silently. His eyes examined her face and saw her mother as he remembered her a long time ago. When the moment finally turned awkward for the both of them, Cid cleared his throat and took a step back.

"General Cristophe and Dr. Deregasi outside are waiting for their turns to see you," he said. Then he lowered his voice and continued, "I can tell General Cristophe that you're not ready yet, if you wish."

Celes thought about it quickly. "It's quite all right, Cid. I'll speak to both of them. I want to be out of this place as soon as possible."

Cid nodded. He looked at her again--a hesitation to take his eyes off her out of irrational fear. He suspected that some demon just conjured an image of her alive and well, and he didn't want to risk losing the image when he left her side. After feeling utterly foolish for a couple of seconds, he turned and walked out the door.

Celes's smile disappeared. The stoic mask was back on. She stared up the ceiling and thought. Her mind has never been so clear. One by one, she predicted what would happen.

He will ask me how I'm feeling. He will tell me how relieved he is that I'm still alive. He will lie to me about the entire army being worried and enraged of what happened. He will vow to seek justice. And then he'll get right to the point. He will ask me to be strong. He will try to convince me not to give up my rank. And then… I will give him my answer.

General Cristophe walked in quietly. Just like before, Celes didn't move her head. "Celes… how are you feeling?"

"I feel… normal, Leo. Thank you for asking," Celes answered promptly.

"Thank the Heavens, Celes! I thought for sure you were lost. You cannot possibly imagine how worried I was--how worried we all were! The entire Army witnessed the whole thing right in front of them. They are outraged by the whole thing--including the Emperor himself. These rebels--these traitors must be stopped, Celes. They are getting dangerously closer. But they failed this time. You're alive! You survived!"

"Pardon me, Leo. But I did not survive. I died," she corrected. Her voice was empty of emotions.

"They will not look upon this as a weakness on your part, Celes. They weren't just after you. They were after all of us. Beigeletter attacked me, too. It could've been me lying there on my own pool of blood if I hadn't had the stroke of good fortune to fall out of his reach!" he explained.

You lie, Leo. Just like you lied to me about the Council choosing me as the new general. I know that you're not telling me something. I do not yet know what that is… but my eyes are open and searching. You lied to me, and you lie to me now. Beigeletter was after me. He wasn't a rebel.

"But I swear on the emperor's Righteous Name, I will find out who's behind all of these attacks. Vector will bring them to justice."

Celes looked at him and simply nodded, looking almost uninterested. Oh, Leo. For a general, you are so predictable.

"Celes," General Cristophe began. "It must've been a terrifying experience for you to go through… all that. I mean, to die and--"

"You're going to ask me if I still want to be general," Celes interrupted. It was a statement and not a question.

"I--" General Cristophe started. The words he rehearsed over and over again in his head vanished. He did not count on being interrupted. More importantly, he didn't count on her to be absolutely correct. General Cristophe blushed and chuckled. "You read my mind, Celes. Yes, I was going to ask you that… but please know this--"

"Yes, Leo," Celes answered.

"Pardon me?" he asked, confused.

"Yes, I still want to be a general."

General Cristophe's mouth hung open, speechless. He did not count on it being this easy. He did not know what to say next.

Oh, Leo. For a general, you're easy to catch unprepared.

"I--well--t-that's good! That's… excellent! But… are you sure about this? I mean, I want you to think about this really carefully."

You lie, Leo. For a general, you're easy to read. What do you want me to say, Leo? What can I say that would convince you that I still want to be a general? But then again… it's not about convincing you, is it? It's about you convincing me. Then why do you still ask? I gave you my answer--the answer that you wanted to hear.

"I have, Leo. The Empire cannot afford another show of weakness. I am ready. I want to show everybody that I am able. I know that I can do this," Celes said without a heat of passion in her voice.

General Cristophe frowned. The whole thing sounded odd to him. He heard the words. He knew that she meant it. But something was missing. It seemed eerily strange to him, but he felt like he was talking to a--

Phantom. Do you sense it in my voice, Leo? I've changed, haven't I? You are unsure. I speak to you, you hear the words, and you believe them. But you know that something is different. What are you going to do about it, Leo?

Nothing.

You can't do anything about it. I sense that you have no control of the situation. Who is in charge, Leo? The Council? The Emperor?

"Very good, Celes. The emperor will be delighted to hear the news," General Cristophe said. He bowed, almost diplomatically, and left.

Dr. Deregasi came in after. He greeted Celes with the usual questions and started to explain to her the severity of her wounds and detail of her recovery. Celes tuned him out as the doctor continued to ramble on with the boring lectures of health and revitalization.

I can see clearly like I couldn't before. I know where the doors open and where they close. I want to learn more. I have been brought back to life for a reason. I want to know why. The people I know lie to me. The people I trust hide things from me. I want to know why.

I died not knowing all these. I died a prisoner of my very allegiance. If I was brought back to life to rectify this failure, then I swear by my own blood spilled in front of everybody, I will be free.

**********

Deep within the most restricted area of Magitek Lab Omega (also known as the Devil's Lab) Kefka arrived at the scene of a secret interrogation.

"Is he ready?" Kefka asked his Chosen Mage.

"He is in the room, waiting, Master," Tayan bowed respectfully.

Kefka and Tayan entered the room. It was circular and dark. Five huge venting fans could be found on the ceiling like those normally used in factories. They rotated lazily. A single column of light bore down on a badly-beaten man strapped to a metal chair at the center of the circular room. He was surrounded by Devouts who kept a very close eye on him.

His breathing was labored. The man's head drooped like a wilting flower. He had no energy left in him to keep it up. He had been tortured, by the looks of it.

Kefka spoke clearly, "Who do you work for?"

"I'm not… telling you… anything," the man replied in a hoarse whisper.

A Devout behind him pulled down a lever on the wall. A loud crackling sound came from the metal chair and was rivaled by the painful screams of the man. The terrible sound of burning flesh, and his screams mixed together and reverberated around the circular room, rising into a macabre choir that only a sadist could stomach to hear.

Kefka signaled with his hand vaguely, and the Devout pulled back the lever. The horrible sound stopped. It left the man coughing and gasping for breath.

"Who ordered you to assassinate General Chere?" Kefka asked again.

"I cannot tell you!" the man cried out defiantly. It was Arnold Beigeletter, brought back to life by Kefka's Devouts in secret for interrogation.

"Why not, Lieutenant?"

"Because… they will kill… my family…they… they… hostage…"

Kefka began to laugh uncomfortably loud. The room produced a piercing resonance that made everybody in the room, save Kefka, wince.

"Oh, you poor, poor halfwit. Don't you remember? Everybody knows that you died! Nobody else knows that we've revived you. Not only that. If you tell us whom you're working for, then we'll let you go, and you can start your life over with a new identity," Kefka promised.

Beigeletter was silent for a moment, perhaps in thought. "The colonels..." Beigeletter finally said.

"Who are they?" Kefka asked.

"Ranger and Blaey. They held my father… hostage. They told me… that if I kill the new general… they'd let my father go… and that they'd… arrange for my… 'release.'" Beigeletter broke in sobs. "I didn't want to do it! I… didn't even know that… that Chere-bitch would be the new general."

Kefka turned away and paced. "Are all of these true?"

"Yes..." Beigeletter replied weakly.

Kefka signaled for everybody to clear the room. The Devouts, including Tayan, left it in a single line. Kefka was the last to leave it, leaving Arnold Beigeletter wheezing on the chair. Tayan closed the metal door to the room and locked it tight--air tight.

"Kill him," Kefka ordered simply and walked away. Tayan followed his Master like a shadow.

The Devouts manned a collection of huge pipes, gauges and valves on a wall. The pipes all led to the circular room they had vacated. A Devout flicked a switch, and the fans within roared deafeningly. A second switch set the inside of the room ablaze. It wasn't a room at all. It was an incinerator. Beigeletter's body burned and was completely consumed by the incredible inferno within seconds, bones and all. What was left of him got sucked out by the roaring of the giant fans. When the incineration process ended, all that was left was a melted slag of metal that used to be the torture chair.

"We cannot afford to let another stunt like that perpetuated by those vengeful colonels to pass us by. We've almost lost Subject A in our carelessness," Kefka said.

"Yes, Master."

"I want them taken out as soon as possible. In the meantime, have two Devouts watching over Subject A at all times."

"Very good, Master. And how very intuitive of you, Master, to rig the reactors so they shut down, thus allowing us to cast the Revive spell on Subject A," Tayan complimented his master as they continued down the corridor.

"Yes. However fortunate that occurrence may be, it was not I who sabotaged the reactors," Kefka promptly replied with an ugly frown on his face.

"Not you, Master?" Tayan asked, perplexed. "But who else could've done it?"

"Somebody who wanted to make sure Subject A is brought back to life. Somebody who knows that such an undertaking was only possible through us."

"The Emperor?"

"Good guess. But, no."

"Then who, Master?"

Kefka didn't reply immediately for he did not have the answer. "I don't know…" He hated hearing himself say the words. It meant that he was not in control of the situation. It threatened him greatly. "Yet," he added. "I am pressed on all sides by many countless obstacles--our unknown saboteur, the Emperor, Leo, and… the Three."

"The Three? You've had an encounter with them again?"

"Yes, during the revival process. I saw them… as I expected."

"What did they want, Master?"

"They wanted me to give up," Kefka said followed by his nefarious laugh.

**********

The Emperor stood atop the highest tower of the Bronze Fortress looking through an astronomical telescope set up to watch a specific portion of the night sky. With it he spied three stars of equal brightness and color, equidistant to each other. The Emperor moved away from the telescope, poured himself a glass of red wine, and held it up to the sky as a toast to an unknown entity.

"The signs are prompt. The celestial calendar is accurate. The Three have finally revealed themselves to the Mortal Plane just as the sages of old have predicted. The Realm of Magic will collide with the World of Balance, and power shall pour forth onto it again. This Empire shall be at the nexus of the rupture... and I shall rule forever!"

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Author's Notes:

Reactions? Something happened to Celes alright. She's now partly aware of what's going on around her and she doesn't like it. Why should she? She sounds more vengeful than relieved to be alive again. More determined, too.

Now, I know that this does not answer a lot of the questions that the fic introduced. But remember that though this is the conclusion of "The Celestial Rise," it is not the last of the story. If you're not happy about the loose ends that the fic left behind, then it would interest you to know that the sequel to this story is up. The title is "Finding Sanctuary."

But before you head on to the next fic, please take the time to review this story.

As always, my URL is http://www.sealed-gate.net/~magicite