Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Celestial Rise ❯ Magitek Lab Omega ( Chapter 17 )

She stood there in front of the numbers. She was one of the prime now. She was on the same level as he. Leo watched her from the back edge of the platform as she saluted to the Army--also hers to command to bring Vector to their goals.

Leo sighed and frowned. He was aware of how difficult the appointed task would be. He had lied to her about almost everything. He had lied about how the New Council had chosen her because of her special ability to rapidly cope and absorb knowledge. He had lied about the reason why she had been chosen as the new general. He did it for one purpose only--to protect her from Kefka.

Kefka's mind-controlling device is much too powerful and ultimately dangerous, he thought. I see why the Emperor fears his reckless behavior. Kefka could well be the end of the grand campaign.

Leo reached into his memories dating six years ago when he had first heard about the Slave Crown Project. He was personally opposed to its completion. To rob somebody of their will was something he considered more heinous than murder. Coming from an honorable soldier, he regarded the project as an arsenal of atrocity and a silent threat.

It was he who had summoned up the courage to face the Emperor himself and to discuss with the Emperor his thoughts about the matter. It was he who had made clear to the Emperor of how powerful the Slave Crown Project was and how its mere existence could be a threat to the Empire itself. The Emperor meditated on the subject for days. Leo thought that the Emperor had completely dismissed his opinion. To his relief, however, the Emperor gave the order to stop the experiment after a week. It was the day when he thought he had seen the last of the accursed project.

But the present was a different time. Apparently, the past events had no impact to what has been culminated by Kefka's own research team. Kefka's own research team had no regard for the Emperor's decree. The threat was very real now. A working prototype had been created. Worse still--it had been utilized.

Though he did not know (or chose not to know) how the Slave Crown operated, he shuddered at the thought of Tina Branford--also known as Subject B--wearing it. He had worries of the Slave Crown being used on him for he did not trust Kefka. He assumed that the Emperor was wary about the same thing. Taking away the charge of manufacturing the Slave Crowns was a prudent move for the Emperor. Kefka should not be allowed access to them.

Thunder rolled from above, and the wind whipped around them in a sudden gale force that drowned Celes's voice as she shouted the last responsorial salute. He muttered a curse on the weather under his breath. Yet, he was glad that the ceremony was short and at its end. All that was left to do was for the cape-bearers right beside him to escort her off the platform.

He looked to his right. The cape bearers seemed to be unsure of what to do next. The wind and the thunder had drowned Celes's voice which was supposed to be their cue to move. Leo leaned to his right and said in a clear voice, "Now! Escort her down now!"

The cape-bearer closest to him turned his head to face him slowly and deliberately. Their eyes met. Leo saw the eyes of the cape-bearer. They stared into his with hate. He puzzled over this for a split of a second. The cape-bearer looked awfully familiar to him. Then--

"You!" he gasped.

Leo's right hand went for his sword, but as he was pulling it out, the cape-bearer gave him a mighty shove. Being at the edge of the platform, Leo lost his balance and fell. With a desperate move, his left hand caught the banner fluttering in the wind. Unfortunately for him, the banner was an insufficient support.

Leo fell ten feet below, taking with him the banner. The banner fell on top of him like a trapper's net. Under the thick fabric he heard a cry from above and some incoherent shouts from the guards. General Chere was in danger.

He struggled to get it off himself. It proved to be more difficult than he imagined especially with the wind bearing down on him. He managed to tear through the fabric with his sword. He ripped it open and stepped through the hole. He was greeted with a few soldiers coming from around the platform.

"General! Are you--"

"Celes!" Leo shouted as he dashed past the soldiers who came to see if he was all right. "Celes!" he called out again.

He went around the first corner of the platform. From behind he could not see what was happening, but he could hear a commotion coming from the front. With his sword drawn he ran around the last corner just in time to see Colonel Llurd slay the cape-bearer with a sword.

His eyes went to General Chere who lay on the ground, barely moving. He stared with horror at her bloody hands and the dagger. Her face twisted to the most painful mortal wound known in battle. She was dying fast. Blood colored her lips morbidly redder. No sound came from her lips. Every breath she took was accompanied with violent, painful spasms of the stomach.

Leo rushed to her side. He held her by her temples and made her meet his stare, but her eyes never met his. She stared straight beyond the dark, cloudy sky--into nothingness. Her lips trembled with every breath. Her fingers still gripped the dagger's hilt in a futile attempt to will it away.

"Stay with me, Celes! Stay with me!" he pleaded. He almost choked the words because of his rapidly growing apprehension. He was horrified at the thought of losing her. He had seen this type of wound many times before in battle. But he had never seen anybody survive it. Many times he had made the terrible decision of ending the life of the mortally wounded with his own sword rather than to witness that person suffer. If he had that choice, he would've done the same for General Chere. But General Chere was not allowed to die. She was his responsibility. He was supposed to protect her. It was a command that came straight from the Emperor's lips.

He turned to those around him.

"Somebody, call a medic!" he roared. "Alert the Infirmary! We have an emergency situation!"

Soldiers trained to handle minor medical emergencies on the field stepped in to see what they could do to help as they waited for the real emergency crew to arrive. As soon as they got a good look at the wound, they knew that it would almost be impossible for them to treat it. The dagger had pierced through the thin plate. Before they could even start to, at least, suppress the bleeding they had to remove her armor. But before they could remove her armor they had to pull the dagger out which was simply out of the question. None of them looked optimistic. They needed a miracle to pull this off even through the aid of magic. The wound was just too severe.

"We can't do anything for her here, general. We need to take her to the Infirmary so we can cut through the armor without removing the dagger!"

From a distance, the sirens of a medical emergency vehicle was heard.

"Make way! Commanders, get your men off the Assembly Ground now!" he bellowed. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of Colonel Llurd standing nearby, staring indifferently at General Chere. Though he was the one who stopped Arnold Beigeletter from finishing her off, he shed no sympathy for her, whatsoever. But in that fleeting second of observation he also sensed worry coming from the Colonel.

Leo shook the thought off and concentrated on the matter at hand. The medical vehicle drew closer as the throng of crowd parted to make way.

"General!" a soldier called back his attention towards General Chere.

Her lips trembled no more, and her bloody hands had lost their strength to the hopeless battle. She stopped breathing. Life had left her body, confirmed by the absence of her pulse, and the deathly stare of her empty, blue eyes.

"She's gone, general," the soldier announced solemnly. "She's dead."

Leo shook his head defiantly. "Not yet!" he said fiercely. The vehicle stopped a short distance from them. "Help me carry her!" he ordered the soldiers around him. They all followed without question. They did not even wait for the stretcher.

They brought her inside the vehicle and strapped her to the stretcher. Once they made sure that she was secure, an angry voice penetrated the din much like how the dagger penetrated through Celes's armor.

"Stop!" the voice commanded. Everybody turned towards the source of the voice, including Leo. It was Kefka, fighting his way through the crowd, savagely pushing aside the unsuspecting soldiers who got in his way. Leo waited for Kefka to reach him though he did not exactly know why.

"Where are you taking her?" Kefka asked, positioning himself in front of the vehicle.

"To the Infirmary," Leo answered impatiently and then added, "Get out of the way!"

"No! Take her to Omega! I can help her!" he said.

Leo's face contorted to an ugly frown of anger. "Never! What sort of fool do you take me for, Kefka?"

"The most idiotic of all if you believe that the Military Infirmary can do anything to bring her back to life! The Omega Lab is her only chance!" Kefka replied.

Leo refused to listen. Accepting Kefka's assistance was out of the question. "Get out of the way, or I'll have this vehicle run you over!" Leo said as a real threat. Kefka held his ground. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Kef--"

"Sir!" called out a soldier from outside the vehicle. He was running towards him carrying a mobile comm device. The soldier saluted to him, and then gave him the comm device. "Sir, his lordship, the Emperor is on the channel!"

Leo picked up the receiver of the comm device and spoke. "My Lord?"

"Leo," the Emperor's voice said calmly.

"I am here, my Lord."

"Is Celes dead?" he asked.

"We are on our way to the--"

"Is she dead, Leo?" he asked again, still in his calm voice.

Leo swallowed nervously before he answered.

"Yes, my Lord. She is dead."

"Then take her to the Omega Lab. Take Kefka with you," Emperor Gestahl said.

"Are you sure, my Lord?" Leo asked in disbelief.

"I am very sure, Leo," the Emperor answered patiently.

"I… understand, my Lord," Leo answered drably.

He handed back the comm device to its original bearer and then turned to Kefka. He looked at him grudgingly before he submitted to the will of his emperor. Leo surrendered his seat and moved to the back of the vehicle beside Celes's stretcher. Kefka hurriedly climb the vehicle on the passenger side.

"Magitek Lab Omega," Kefka said to the driver. "They will wait for us there. Make haste!"

The driver hesitated and glanced back towards his general. General Cristophe nodded solemnly. The vehicle started with a jolt and sped at top velocity towards one of the most restricted Magitek Facilities of the Bronze Compound, sirens blaring.

Leo looked at General Chere again. Her eyes were still open, staring into the realm of the dead. Her body exhibited no signs of life. The medical officers within started the process of dismantling her armor with extreme care. He wanted to close her eyes, but he didn't want to tempt fate. He let her eyes remain open because that was how they were supposed to be.