12.17.18 Happy year-end, everyone! I've been busy re-writing the first ten chapters of Final Fantasy IV: The Novel in order to more closely align the story – starting with the PlayStation script and moving to the DS script nearly 15 years later to finish the story was kind of a jarring experience for the reader (not to mention my writing style changed quite a lot in that time). With those chapters done (check them out if you haven't yet!), I thought I could officially say my work on the Final Fantasy IV trilogy was complete…but I realized I couldn't actually claim that unless I had done something about the infamous Developer's Room portion of the game.

So, with that said, I hope you enjoy this little side-story – considering the Developer's Room is a running joke throughout the FFIV saga on its own, I'm not claiming this is any kind of canon with my novelization (or with the game* itself), but I had fun visiting my favorite characters for what will be the last time in quite a while. Thanks for reading, as always, and please email me your other story ideas (although I know enough people are already yelling at me to finish Final Fantasy V as it is…).

-CC

*Please note that the guest character names in this chapter have been edited from how they appeared in the developer's room in the original game to comply with fanfiction dot net's rule for not including non-fictional characters in a story.

[Bonus] Act 15.5: The Developer's Office

"Ah, there you are."

Cecil lifted his head from his dwarven-sized (i.e. gigantic) stein of ale, realizing he had to crane his neck to see over the glass and make out the entryway from which the voice had drifted in.

Sauntering through the threshold, his corn silk hair splayed over his shoulders and his icy gaze fixated on the cross-dressing, blonde pigtailed dwarf that was happily humming behind the bar, was Kain Highwind. He grabbed the chair across from Cecil without a word as he continued to stare at the dwarf, and Cecil had to resort to clearing his throat to finally get his friend's attention.

"Hey, Kain. You were, um…talking to me, right?"

"…Right," Kain murmured, swinging his legs opposite of the bar so that he was now fully facing Cecil. "My apologies. I'm afraid I got distracted."

"His name is 'Howdy' if you'd like to order a drink," Cecil grinned.

Kain glanced around the rest of the Lali-Ho Pub, whose glory days he reckoned were far, far behind them. Every single table in the joint was empty, save for the corner seat Cecil had occupied with his back to the wall. The veneered oak bar, which had been getting polished by Howdy every twenty minutes despite not a single patron stopping by to mess it, was the best looking fixture there – otherwise, all of the tables were riddled with water stains, burned through with holes from what could have only been massive cigars and pipes, and mysteriously enough, several of the stools at the bar were missing a leg and had been propped up against the counter to stay aloft. If anyone had actually tried to sit in one, they'd be flat on their arse in seconds. Some of the cracks in the crushed-stone floor were large enough for a child to plunge straight through, and every time a burst of riotous laughter came from the great hall upstairs, an explosion of dust and stone granules sprinkled down from the northeast corner of the room.

"I'm good," Kain finally replied, reaching over to steal Cecil's drink instead. "I suppose you're here because you couldn't sleep?"

"…Something like that," Cecil hesitated, propping his cheek against his hand as he blew a strand of hair out of his eyes. "Even though I'm exhausted, my mind is racing with every possible scenario of what could go wrong at the Tower of Babil tomorrow. The third Crystal of Darkness…it slipped through our fingers as easily as if we hadn't been there at all. Is it really going to be that easy to break in and get them all back?"

"Giott seems to think so." Kain took a long gulp, peering at Cecil over the rim of the glass. His silver hair had been hastily tied back in a low ponytail, though half of it had already fallen out over his shoulders. His normally piercing cerulean eyes had been transformed into dull pools, glazed over from exhaustion and drink and framed with dark pink circles. Though they had not been reunited long, Kain couldn't help but think this was the worst Cecil had looked in a long while – he had been dealing with some seriously messed up stuff these past few weeks, after all.

Most of it brought on by me, Kain frowned, a flush of shame flooding his cheeks. The truth was, as soon as he had spotted Cecil in the back of the bar, his first instinct had been to turn tail and run the opposite direction – more than anything, he had just wanted a quiet place to be alone with his thoughts, and being trapped in a lodge with the very-much-forbidden-to-him love of his life, a sixteen year old poppet whom he was positive would strangle him with her whip in his sleep if given the chance, and the painfully kind Yang, who hadn't even looked at him askance since he had returned from Golbez's clutches, was not conductive to the self-abhorrence he wanted to engage in. But it was as if his body had kicked into auto-pilot – when had there ever been a time he hadn't joined Cecil at any table in their nearly fifteen years of friendship? – and before he knew it, he was calling out as if he had been specifically looking for him in the first place.

I've returned to my senses at long last…but have I ever considered the fact that Cecil may not have wanted me to return…?

"I'm sorry," Cecil suddenly blurted out, closing his eyes as he reached up to massage his forehead. "I'm not going to be great company tonight."

"You don't have to be," Kain said softly, setting down the drink and pushing it aside so that there was nothing standing between them. It made him feel awkward and deeply uncomfortable, but he supposed that was the whole point of the exercise. "What can I do to help?"

"I…I'm not sure," Cecil laughed nervously, peeking between his fingers. "Can you see the future? Are we going to be OK?"

…Which "we" are you talking about? Kain wondered. Our planet that's on the brink of destruction, or…you and I?

But before Kain could respond with something slightly less intense, another tear of laughter and thumping suddenly rang out from above them, and the familiar rumbling of failing infrastructure purred from the ceiling. But this time, the shower of dust burst over Cecil and Kain's table instead, layering it in a heap of ashy gravel, and the shudder-inducing sound of stone cracking apart filled Kain's ears over the erratic rush of his heart. When he looked up, he saw a massive fissure tearing open right over Cecil's bowed head, and leapt to his feet, diving head-first across the table.

"Cecil, above you!"

"Ahhhh!"

A whoosh of air was ejected from Cecil's lungs as he felt all of Kain's weight plunge against him, his jaw clenching in pain as the two of them rolled across the rough stone floor and smashed into a wall that made stars dance in Cecil's eyes. He managed to lift his eyes just in time to see the chair he had been occupying get crushed to oblivion by the ceiling that had caved-in, several large bricks of magma-hewn rock piled up before them.

"Whoa!" Howdy cried, leaping over the bar with surprising agility in his stacked stiletto heels and rushing over to them. "That was a close one!"

"Are you all right?" Kain groaned, trying to lift himself up to give Cecil some air.

"Yeah…I think so…" Cecil was still trying to blink away the stars. "What the hell was that…?"

Kain pressed his palms against the wall to give himself some leverage to rise – his knees had taken the brunt of his fall, and felt like two throbbing grapefruits. As he pushed his weight on his hands in an attempt to ease his legs into standing, he heard a loud "click", and felt himself suddenly flying forward, taking Cecil with him as they rolled down what a short, but extremely painful, flight of stairs. Another "click" echoed, this time from further away, and when Kain next opened his eyes, he found himself in a darkened hall at the bottom of a stairwell, Cecil sprawled out several feet away.

"Ugh…" Cecil groaned. "Another cave-in…?"

"I don't think so," Kain muttered, dragging himself up the stairs and feeling around in the dark for something – anything – that would get them out of there. But all he could feel under his hands was the same pattern of bricks that had been on the walls in Lali-Ho Pub, and if he pressed his ear against them, he thought he could make out the sound of Howdy shrieking, albeit in an extremely muffled fashion.

"H-Hey!" Kain cried, banging his fists against the wall. "What is this!?"

"Oh-oh-oh dear, lali!" Howdy gulped, and after much scraping and shuffling, his voice came in clearer. "It seems you've found one of our castle's infamous secret passages! I had actually forgotten about that one…"

"Well, how do we get out?" Kain asked through clenched teeth. He glanced back at Cecil, whom he could barely make out in the dark – but it seemed that he had managed to right himself, and was staring up at him from the bottom of the stairs, mouth agape.

"It might be a little tricky, lali," Howdy replied. "Dwarven secret passages aren't like human secret passages, you know. There's only one way in, and one way out."

"…What!?"

"Yeah – we think they're more fun that way, lali! Now that you've tripped the door, it won't open again for another twenty-four hours!"

"Grrr…"

"Kain, we'll just Teleport out," Cecil called. "Get back down here."

Kain had totally forgotten that in their time apart, Cecil had gained the ability to cast white magic when he had become a paladin. Silently thanking whatever gods might still be watching over them, Kain limped down the stairs, his knees still not ready to forgive his heroic transgressions. Once he had reached Cecil, they linked arms, and Cecil raised his free hand in the air, chanting the Teleport spell as he closed his eyes. A glittering beam of silver light bloomed beneath their feet, growing hotter as it began to shoot in the air and encapsulate their bodies in starlight.

But as suddenly as the light had appeared, it then burned out, the heat dissipating and plunging the two of them into darkness once more. Cecil lowered his hand in confusion, blinking.

"W-What happened? I swear I did the spell right…"

"HOWDY!" Kain screamed at the top of his lungs.

"S-Sirs!" They could hear Howdy's voice trembling even from where they stood. "Magic doesn't work, either! You'll just need to find the exit, lali!"

"Unbelievable," Kain muttered, slapping his palm against his forehead.

"It's OK," Cecil laughed nervously. "It shouldn't be that bad, right? Let's just do as he says so we can get back to the others. Here…this will help."

He cast Cura on the both of them, and sure enough, Kain could feel his injuries starting to mend in the rush of warmth that had settled in his ligaments.

"Fine…you're right. Let's just hope that wherever we're heading has some damned light."

Cecil pressed his hand along the right wall, and Kain the left, and they started down the hall, letting themselves fall back into the awkward silence they had just begun cultivating in the pub. Every once in a while, Cecil would lift his eyes to see if he could search Kain's face, but the darkness was too penetrating for him to make out much – he could barely see his own hand as it was, and that was only inches away. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed like Kain had pressed himself as closely to the wall as possible as to maintain the maximum distance between them in the narrow hall.

Kain…are you truly happy to be back with us?

I thought everything would get better when you returned. Everything that I had struggled with on my own while you were gone, I no longer had to do alone. Every doubt that I had carried in my heart about you hating me was going to dissipate. We were supposed to pick up from right before we had entered Mist – nothing that happened since was supposed to count.

If I had asked you why you couldn't sleep tonight…would you tell me the truth?

Or would you lie, like I did to you?

After a half hour of what felt like endless stumbling, Cecil nearly cheered in relief when he saw what appeared to be the flickering of firelight in the near distance. Kain spotted it too, and they both went careening forward at once, eager to let their harried footsteps fill the silence between them. The darkness melted away, revealing another brick wall similar to the crumbling façade in the pub, and a single wooden doorway reinforced with iron slabs running the length of the threshold. At the top, a speakeasy grille was fastened shut – but of course, it couldn't be operated from their side of the door.

"Where do you suppose this leads to?" Kain arched a brow. "I've yet to see a door quite like this here."

"Yeah…" Cecil trailed off, his hand hovering over the blackened latch – it looked as if one point, it had been doused in fire. From what they had seen in the short tour given to them of King Giott's castle, doors and privacy in general didn't seem to be en vogue for the dwarves. "…But we have to go in, right? There's no other exit."

"What are you afraid of?" Kain smirked. "You think it leads to Giott's love dungeon?"

"Uh…ugh," Cecil grimaced, pulling his hand away from the latch and glaring up at Kain. "What possesses anyone to come up with something like that?"

"I'm a little twisted, if you haven't realized quite yet," Kain said dryly, grasping hold of the latch for himself and pushing down. "Here goes nothing."

And he was exactly right – nothing happened.

"Huh?" Kain pushed down again, much harder this time. The mechanism groaned in protest, but stubbornly refused to budge. Cecil pushed him out of the way, trying for himself, and then trying again with both hands. When the door still wouldn't open, Kain reared back a few feet, swinging his leg in the air and smashing the heel of his boot straight into the doorjamb. Other than a jarring pain shooting up the length of his leg all the way to his groin, nothing else was accomplished.

Great, Cecil thought, closing his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. Maybe Howdy would take some initiative and alert Giott that his idiot human guests had gotten themselves trapped, but it didn't seem very likely that anyone was actually going to try and rescue them. Was this divine punishment for their failure to protect Giott's crystal from Golbez?

"Damnation…" Kain hissed, hopping on his good foot like an overgrown rabbit as he shook off the pain. "What's the point of all this?"

"…The point is that you should have never come to this Developer's Office of Darkness in the first place!"

A booming voice suddenly came through the door, and the slide of the grille slid open, revealing a pair of flashing yellow eyes surrounded by a spill of black. Cecil and Kain both jumped in place, their collective hearts leaping into their throats.

"The…the what?!" Cecil gulped. Developers'…Office!?

The floating eyes blinked, and the guttural hack of a throat being cleared rattled the door on its hinges.

"Ahem, excuse me. I suppose I should congratulate you on even finding us in the first place – you've done well to come this far."

The voice is totally different now… Cecil blanched. Now it sounds like a teenage boy…

"Who are you?" Kain demanded.

"Who am I, you ask? The name is Yazakoto…I am this office's gatekeeper, and the master whose hand guides the localization efforts from the shadows."

"Localization efforts?" Cecil and Kain blurted at the same time. Was this man speaking in tongues? His name was kind of strange…maybe he was using a foreign language?

"Um, you know…like a translator? Oh…I see. I suppose this means you haven't discovered the truth about this world yet…the truth about all existence as we know it. That's why you've come, isn't it?"

"The truth about this world?" Cecil and Kain's eyes met, and Cecil knew right away they were thinking the same thing:

Golbez had said the moon concealed powers that transcended the limit of human comprehension – that was why he was gathering the crystals, so that he could open a pathway to the moon and take hold of that power for himself.

The moon's concealed powers…were they tied to what this man spoke of now? Tied to existence itself?

"Those who gaze upon the face beneath this helm are said to never leave this place again. But if you would still enter, I will not bar your way." A loud "click" emanated from the door, and it slowly slid open, revealing a sliver of intensely burning light that made it impossible to see anything inside.

"What should we do?" Kain whispered.

"We have to go in, of course! This might be the only way we learn what it is Golbez is truly seeking – if we know the secrets of the moon, we can use that knowledge to stop him for good!"

Kain pressed his lips together, eyeing the open door warily. Nothing about this seemed right at all…not to mention they didn't have any weapons to defend themselves and were barely dressed for much more than a long nap. "I don't know, Cecil…I can't believe I'm the one who's going to say this, but…it seems too dangerous. We should just head back and wait for the door to open again. Rosa will sound the alarms as soon as she realizes we are missing."

"I can't do that," Cecil frowned, pressing his palm against the door. "…Kain…listen. Ever since I became a paladin…strange things have been happening to me. Dreams that feel so real, I can remember their every detail in my waking hours. A mysterious light that comes to my aid, unbidden, and I always carry the unsettling feeling in my heart that someone far away is calling out to me – but no one is there when I answer. I can't be sure, but…Golbez, the crystals, the light on Mount Ordeals…I think they're all connected somehow. And if this place can help me understand any of it…then I have to take my chances inside."

"Cecil…" Kain shook his head, sighing. "Why in the world would you keep all of that to yourself? Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Didn't you just hear me? Because it sounds insane!" Cecil cried. "Because I feel like…I'm losing what little grip I have left on reality!"

"Well…then you're in good company." Kain slung his arm around Cecil's shoulders, kicking the door open the rest of the way and filling the hall with the blinding light. "Let's go."

"Come!" Yazakoto laughed. "Pass through the arch!"

Cecil raised his arm to shield his eyes as they walked inside, a towering figure looming over them as the door slammed shut and the locks clicked back into place. As Cecil's vision came back into focus in the comforting chill of the figure's shadow, he heard the soft din of voices rising from all around him – pleasant chatter, bouts of cheerful laughter that sent a flood of warmth through his cheeks, and even the distant sound of music trickling in – was somebody playing the piano?

Cecil forced himself to look up at the person waiting for them by the door, swallowing nervously. It was a willowy figure cloaked in midnight, the same yellow eyes that had interviewed them behind the door flashing ominously – it had to have been Yazakoto. The hood around his face obscured all of his features, and Cecil noticed that the sleeves of his robes were nearly a foot too long, hiding any appendages. Behind him, there was a bar setup that was the exact opposite of Lali-Ho Pub in every way – charmingly lit, with torches dispensed all along the perimeter, filled with fresh flowers instead of piles of rubble, and a whole cluster of people – and creatures – talking excitedly at the bar, drinks in hand. From where he stood, Cecil could make out a pig sitting next to a girl in a bikini top, and the two of them clinked glasses before tossing back the strange purple liquid inside. A dwarf was fluttering from stool to stool, though he didn't look much like any the dwarves they had encountered in Giott's castle thus far – he was wearing neon green armor the color of a freshly-harvested apple, and instead of the charcoal-like complexion mostly hidden behind a clump of facial hair, he had deep navy skin and a delicate white goatee.

Oh gods…what exactly did I just get us into?

Yazakoto suddenly clapped his sleeved hands together, bursting into squealing laughter when he saw the perplexed looks painted on Cecil and Kain's faces. "…How was I? Did I sound like a real gatekeeper? I stayed up all night practicing this role!"

"Wait, what!?" Kain burst, tearing his attention away from the commotion in front of them. "What is going on here?"

Yazakoto waved his arm, tittering again. "Sorry, I was just trying to have a bit of fun – sometimes we take these things too seriously, you know?" Cecil couldn't help but notice Yazakoto's eyes had settled on him as he said that. "We don't really have need for a gatekeeper here…not many people stumble upon this place, as you can imagine. Anyway, welcome to the developer's office!"

"Who is this 'developer' you keep referencing?" Cecil frowned. "Are they the person in charge?"

"…Person?" Yazakoto grinned. "…Interesting that you assume they are human, but sure, you could think of it like that. In fact, here comes one of them right now."

An oversized Bomb with sparks flying out of his spiked hair and stubby claws flapping about came floating over to them, bowing politely even as Cecil and Kain reared back, their fists clenched in preparation for battle.

"What's with the glares on those faces?" the Bomb pouted. "Is this how you greet someone new? Your mothers sure did a hack job raising you."

"Ali!" Yazakoto shook his head. "Don't be like that – they don't have mothers, remember?"

"W…what?" Cecil whispered under his breath. How did he know that?

"Oh, right," Ali unleashed a sneeze, flames shooting out of his earholes as he did so. "Sorry…I'm not the one who created the characters. Anyway, no hard feelings – I'm Ali, an assistant producer. What brings you here?"

"What's an 'assistant producer'?" Kain blinked.

"What indeed," Ali moaned, glossing right over their question. "Let me guess – you want to talk to a real producer, right? Nobody ever wants to talk to me…"

"It must be some sort of ranking system," Cecil sighed. He was starting to get a headache from this language barrier, but he wasn't about to give up before they had even gotten started. "Ali – is it true we can uncover the truths of the world here?"

"Of course." The yellow markings above his glassy orange eyes that closely resembled eyebrows seemed to quiver as he spoke. "In fact…ah, I've just remembered who you are. I think you'll find exactly what it is you want here."

"…Really?" Cecil drew in a sharp breath. "Where do we need to go?"

"You'll want to talk to my boss, Nikita. He's the executive producer and the director. Simply put, runs and knows everything here."

"Perfect," Kain replied. "Just tell us where to find him, and we'll be on our way."

"It's not going to be that simple," Ali snorted. "He doesn't see just anyone who waltzes in here."

"Well, actually, he does," Yazakoto cut in. "But he's been in a bit of a snit lately."

Kain looked as if he really didn't want to engaged any further, but it was obvious he had no choice. He pressed his fingers to his temples, closing his eyes. "…And why has he been in a snit?"

"Someone stole his favorite book," Ali sighed. "And he's been refusing to talk to any of us unless he finds it again."

Really? That's it? "Well, it couldn't have gone far, right?" Cecil shrugged. "If we find this book, he'll talk to us?"

"Correct. We've all been far too busy to look for it – we've got deadlines to meet, you know. But if you want to hunt it down for yourselves, have at it."

Deadlines? For what? Cecil couldn't believe what he was hearing – yet somehow, it all seemed to make sense in a place as chaotic as this.

"Consider it done," he nodded. "What's the title?"

"Lustful Lali-Ho," Ali replied, his tone dead-serious. Cecil and Kain turned to each other, their cheeks tinging pink. The person in charge was into romance novels?

"Fine," Kain nodded. "Let's get going."

"Good luck!" Yazakoto waved. "You might want to stop in the music room first for clues – Uemaccino and Nikita tend to spend a lot of time together."

Before either Cecil or Kain could ask for directions, Yazakoto and Ali disappeared in a poof of glittery smoke.

"…OK," Cecil exhaled, turning to navigate the rest of the room. Although the bar ahead of them led to a dead-end, to their right, there was a long hallway where a congregation of pigs, goblins and a figure cloaked in a white mage frock were practicing what appeared to be a complicated choreography routine.

"And again!" A frog with a megaphone chanted. "Pump those arms higher! It's Victory Fanfare, not Victory Wahhh-fare, people!"

"Do you hear that?" Cecil paused, pointing past the dancers. "There's that piano I first heard when we came in…" Kain held his breath as he cupped his hand around his ear, slowly nodding.

"And where there's a piano, there's music – presumably."

They scooted behind the dance crew by flattening themselves against the wall, Cecil just narrowly missing his leg getting sliced open by a goblin twirling his knife in the air like a baton. Once they had made it past unscathed, Cecil pushed open the heavy oak door at the end of the hall with a single music note inscribed on the front.

Inside, they found a spread of gorgeous instruments propped against the wall, all polished so perfectly that Cecil could see his very bedraggled, borderline deranged reflection from within the curvy brass. In one corner, a man that looked suspiciously like a Fabulian monk with his shaved head and painted-on ceremonial battle markings was strumming his fingers over a pedal harp, eyes closed in concentration.

"That song…it's the same lullaby Edward played the night I was in Troia," Cecil mused out loud. "How do you suppose it's known in these parts?"

Kain was too distracted to listen by a maiden with bright pink hair and rainbow-dusted fairy wings that was standing at a table with a collection of bells, watching as her hands flew from each unit with perfect synchronicity to the rhythm a Float Eye was banging out on a drum.

But it was the man in the center of the room that was leading them all – he was hovering over a pure crystal piano that rose majestically from the makeshift stage put together with broken bricks and a slab of wood that miraculously, wasn't bowing under what had to have been hundreds of pounds of glass. He wore a simple ivory bandana tied across his forehead and a black cotton shift and slacks, tapping his bare feet to the music with a half-smile on his face. When he lifted his eyes and saw Cecil and Kain standing before him, dumbfounded, he calmly lifted his fingers from the keys, and the room fell into a sterile silence.

"Um…hello," Cecil bleated. "Are you Uemaccino?"

The man pointed to himself bemusedly as if to say "me?", and chuckled, gesturing for the others to keep playing before turning back to his visitors.

"I'm just a simple farmer."

"…A farmer," Kain repeated, stone-faced.

"That's right."

"A farmer who wouldn't happen to know anything about 'Lustful Lali-Ho'?" Cecil tried.

The man's grin melted as he tilted his head, his gaze shifting quickly around the room as if to make sure no one had heard them over the din of the music. But when none of the other players even so much as fluttered an eyelash, he quickly hopped down from the stage, shuffling over to them and pressing a finger to his lips.

"Outside…now."

"OK, OK!" Cecil gasped as the man grabbed hold of both their shoulders, shoving them out of the music room. Once the door was safely shut behind him, he promptly raised his hands in front of his chest, shaking his head.

"Yes, I am Uemaccino. I don't know who sent you, but I didn't take the book. I only borrowed it."

"Huh?" Cecil blinked. "No one sent us. We're just trying to find it so that Nikita will answer our questions."

"Oh, really? Well, in that case, have you talked to Asuna yet? He was sniffing around while I had the book in my possession, following me everywhere and being a general pain in my rear. He kept haunting me about why I needed it, asking all these questions about when I would return it…it was maddening!"

"Well, why did you need it?" Kain drawled. "What's the big deal about this book, anyway?"

"The big deal? I asked myself the very same thing, until I happened to stumble upon it one day in Nikita's library. That moment…the rest of my life was irrevocably changed. That book is what inspired my masterpiece work – a song I fervently composed in a sleepless whirlwind of nights and has suddenly rocketed me to developer status!"

"What song is this?" Cecil asked.

"I named it after the feeling that took all my senses captive when I turned the very first page in that book…the 'Theme of Love'."

"…Never heard of it," Cecil and Kain droned in unison, and Uemaccino nearly fell over.

"What!? You're…oh, forget it. Listen, I can't help you – you need to find Asuna. He usually keeps himself holed up in the basement – I've got to get back to my work." Uemaccino nodded toward the flight of stairs behind them that neither man had noticed up until that point, and reached back for the door.

"Thanks anyway," Cecil sighed, and the man shook his head, retreating back into the music room as he mumbled under his breath.

"Never heard of it? What type of uncultured…?"

The door slammed shut, and Cecil and Kain turned to each other warily.

"There's usually not very good things to be found in basements," Kain frowned.

"That's been my experience as well. But we're going anyway, right?"

"Of course. We've gotten this far…"

They slunk down the narrow, creaking steps, the temperature consistently dropping several degrees with each flight they descended. They were eventually deposited in musty cellar that was illuminated with washed-out candlelight, stacks upon stacks of bookcases lining the walls between each gold-plated sconce that held a single tapered candle. Standing in the rear of the cellar, his hands cocked on his hips, was a man garbed head-to-toe in Baronian ceremonial dress, right down to the glimmering medals of valor bestowed upon only the bravest of Baron's knights. His helmet completely obstructed his face, but if Cecil didn't know any better, he could have sworn that the figure standing before him was Baigan, the former captain of the Kingsguard that had given up his humanity to serve in Golbez's fiendish army.

"What the hell!?" Kain gasped, and Cecil quickly shook his head.

"It's not him – he's dead, remember?"

Kain didn't remember – he hadn't been there when it happened, though supposedly he had witnessed Baigan's defeat alongside Golbez – he couldn't remember a blasted thing from his time "away".

"Hello!" the man suddenly chirped. "I'm Asuna, the producer. What brings you to my humble abode?"

"He's about as subtle as Baigan," Kain muttered. "This isn't going to go well, is it?"

"Hello," Cecil forced a smile on his face as he came closer. "I'm…"

"Oh, I know who you are," Asuna grinned, a flash of crimson suddenly igniting under his helmet that made Cecil's heart freeze in his chest. "And I already know why you've come – I just enjoy a rhetorical rapport once in a while. But before you say anything…I just wanted to thank you – personally – for taking the time to come here."

"Um…" Cecil shook his head confusedly. "…Sure?"

Asuna bared his teeth and lunged forward, throwing himself over Cecil before the last syllable had left his lips. Cecil grunted as he slammed to the floor, instinctively reaching to block his face as Asuna reared up over his hips, the sound of a piercing scrape ringing out in the air as a pair of mythril claws slid out of the metal knuckles strapped to his wrists.

"…Thank you with my fists, that is!"

No! Cecil twisted himself in a desperate bid to escape, but Asuna was far too heavy, snatching down with one hand to grasp hold of both of Cecil's wrists while flashing his claws only inches away from his eyes with the other. As Asuna's knee pressed deeper into Cecil's diaphragm, he could see patches of black start to invade his vision, the boisterous activity on the next floor up fading away into a blur of static.

The sound of a stomach-turning crack suddenly reverberated in Cecil's skull, and he slumped against the floor, eyes clenched shut, waiting for the inevitable rush of pain to drown his senses. But a few moments later, Asuna flopped off of him like a ragdoll, and it was Kain's face that materialized above his own, his hair falling over his eyes.

"Are you hurt?"

"Ugh…" Cecil's eyes fluttered open as he gingerly pressed his fingers into his hair, trying to feel for any blood. "I…don't think so?" He pushed himself up by his elbows as Kain backed away, blinking confusedly. "I felt something in my head, and then…"

"Sorry, that was me," Kain shrugged. "Guess I hit that bastard hard enough for you to feel it too!" Cecil glanced over Kain's shoulder and saw Asuna sprawled out on the floor, his eyes twitching underneath his eyelids as he desperately clawed across over a rapidly-growing pool of blood.

"No…how could I be defeated…by the likes of you…?"

His face crashed to the floor, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as his uniform began to flake away into chalky ash. In a matter of seconds, he had transformed into a tidy heap of monster dust, medals and all, leaving behind only a thread-bound booklet embossed with bright pink cursive font with the unmistakable title: Lustful Lali-Ho.

"He was a monster?" Cecil gasped, taking hold of Kain's outstretched hand and hauling himself back to his feet. "What would a monster want with this book, anyway?"

"Who knows?" Kain muttered, fetching it from the pile of dust and blowing it off. "Let's just get this back to its owner and get the hell out of here."

"Ah, you don't need to look far for that – I'm right here."

Kain and Cecil froze in place, their eyes darting over to the stairway from which they had descended. Standing before them was a majestic white chocobo, blue eyes glittering, with a hand-embroidered shawl draped around his neck like a brilliant second layer of rainbow plumage. Its pink beak clicked playfully as it strutted over to them, promptly plucking the book out of Kain's hands and dropping it into the rucksack hidden under his wing.

"Are you…Nikita?" Cecil asked, and the chocobo nodded, his feathers ruffling as he gave himself a quick shake.

"I am. And you're Cecil, of course. And Kain."

"We are," Kain replied slowly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Does this mean you're the one who's going to tell us what the hell is going on?"

"Indeed," Nikita nodded, gesturing toward the rear of the room. "My only condition is that I see you one at a time – my office is rather small." A hidden door swung open in the wall, revealing a cozy nook blanketed in jewel-toned pillows that were layered in molted feathers, a knee-high desk piled with papers plopped right in the middle of the chaos. "Kain, why don't you come in first?"

"Kain…" Cecil frowned. "…What if it's another trap?"

"Then I'll be fine," Kain smirked.

"He will be, I assure you," Nikita chuckled. "I wouldn't want to go up against the men who sniffed out the rat in my own realm – Asuna's been known to get a bit of wanderlust, but I didn't think he'd actually manage to pull off an escape by leaving behind a decoy. When he gets back, I'm going to have to commend him on his little ruse."

A little ruse that almost killed me, Cecil inwardly groaned. But he argued no more, watching as Kain and Nikita disappeared in the office, the door shutting behind them. He leaned back against one of the bookshelves, reaching over to grab a random book and flipping it open. If all the world's knowledge was really here at his fingertips, he figured he had better get some light reading in.

But when he flipped open the first page, his stomach immediately sank in disappointment – every line of text was populated with a series of runes that he had absolutely no idea how to begin interpreting. He sighed, sliding the book back into place, and decided Plan B would consist of resting his eyes.

Before he knew it, the door had swung back open, and Kain walked out alone, making a beeline for Cecil and gingerly tapping his shoulder.

"C-Cecil?"

Is that Kain? Cecil's brain felt like it was underwater – he had just managed to slip into that blissful cycle of REM sleep that waged hell on your psyche if it was disturbed in any capacity. He lifted his chin, blinking wearily as his friend's face came back into focus. Kain's eyes were creased, his mouth pressed in a flat line – Cecil felt a tremor on his shoulder, and when he looked down, realized it was Kain's hand still resting there – shaking like leaf. Why…why is Kain so sad all of a sudden?

"What's wrong?" Cecil frowned, an icy fear clutching his spine as he took in Kain's slumped form.

"I…" Kain shook his head quickly, a small smile forming as he pulled back. "Nothing, sorry. I just…wanted to tell you…thanks for letting me have your back. It was fun – kind of felt like the old days for a while there, didn't it?"

"What?" Cecil laughed under his breath, pushing himself off of the bookshelf. "Shouldn't I be thanking you? I think we're on…two times, now, that you've already saved me tonight?" He peered back at the open office, where he could see Nikita was patiently waiting for him behind the desk. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing of importance," Kain shook his head, sighing. "I think it's you he wants to really see. Somehow…he knows you're the one who insisted on seeing this through, so…"

"Damnation…all right," Cecil took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."

He strode to the office door without looking back, though he could feel Kain's eyes trailing him the entire way. When he reached the threshold, Nikita nodded, and he took that as his invitation to step inside, the door magically sliding shut. Cecil sat across from him in front of the desk, crossing his legs since it was the only way he could fit himself inside.

"Cecil…" Nikita began, "…First and foremost, I wanted to thank you for playing my little game."

"…Game?" Cecil tilted his head. "I don't…understand. Finding the book, you mean?"

"No, of course not," Nikita chuckled. "I mean, all of this." He spread his wings before them, though the room was so small that the tips of his feathers brushed the walls. "This world we live in, the creatures that exist among us, even the crystals themselves…it's all just a game – a simulation, if you will – that I've created. It's been looping over and over since the dawn of its existence, different decisions that the players make branching out into infinite new paths, storylines, quests…decisions that even determine who lives and who dies."

"What…?" The room had suddenly begun spinning – or was it just his pulse dropping to a faint murmur? – and Cecil had to grab hold of the desk to keep himself from passing out right then and there. "A game? You can't be serious."

"I am."

"All of this…the suffering…the agony…the hatred we've endured…it doesn't mean anything?"

"That's one way of interpreting it," Nikita blinked. "Of course, that's the more nihilistic perspective. I am a little surprised – I thought hearing this would make you happy."

"What!?" Cecil gasped, slamming his fists down on the desk. "How could you possibly think that? After everything that has happened…after everything that I ever loved and knew in my world was ripped away from me – how I fought with all of my being to try and snatch even a fraction of that happiness back – how could you possibly believe that hearing it was all for naught would actually make me…happy?"

"Because I know what it is you truly want the most," Nikita smiled. "You were dreaming of it up until the very minute you reached this developer's office. You wanted everything that had happened to you and Kain after your tragic visit in Mist to have no bearing on your future. Put simply, you just wanted things to go back to the way they used to be."

"I…" Cecil swallowed, and it felt like a spiked lead ball sliding down his throat. "I do…I do want my friendship with Kain back, but… That's not even the half of it! I don't want Rydia's life to go up in flames…I don't want Rosa to suffer at Golbez's hands…I didn't want any of my friends to die…and…there's so much more – far bigger concerns that I…!"

"It's OK to be selfish, Cecil. Every creature on this planet is – paladins are not an exception. There's no law saying you can't desire different things…but there is always something one desires more than anything else. I'm right, aren't I?"

Is he right…? Cecil lowered his gaze, his cheeks flushing shamefully as the warning sting of tears assaulted his eyes. Yes…of course he is. It's what I could never, ever bring myself to tell Kain – that I don't think things between us will ever be the same unless the very past itself is unwound. Because to admit that would mean I don't have faith in our friendship…that one of the most important people to me in the world never mattered that much in the first place if someone like Golbez was all it took to destroy us.

"You speak truly," he murmured, closing his eyes. "But I don't understand how that has anything to do with this dread revelation making me happy."

"Ah, you do not? Allow me to explain, then." Nikita reached in the space between his gangly legs and the desk, lifting a small gray box with a violet switch and wordlessly plunking it on the surface between them. Cecil slowly opened his eyes, not able to help but snort under his breath and wonder what the hell he was looking at. It looked like something Cid would have whipped up in his workshop.

"In any game, the concept of time, space, and even mobility – those are simply artificial parameters introduced to create a semblance of order in what is effectively contained chaos," Nikita began. "The game begins when the players take their places, and it ends when there are none left. And anytime during…well, if things aren't proceeding in a satisfactory manner…the decision can be made to reset those parameters."

"Reset…parameters?"

"Yes. Start over."

"Start…over?" Cecil shook his head. "I'm not following."

"It's quite simple," Nikita pushed the console toward Cecil, not stopping until it brushed his fingers still clinging to the edge of the desk. "You're not satisfied with your progression, and because you've managed to make your way here, I'm giving you the option to restart. You just need to choose at which point in time you'll do so, and any pathways resulting from that choice, including the very one we are enacting right now, will disappear."

"Disappear," Cecil whispered. "Meaning none of this…"

"…Will have ever happened."

Cecil spun around in his seat, eyeing the doorway.

"And Kain…?"

"There will be no controlling for his actions, or anyone else's. Things could wind up exactly as you wanted – or, depending on what you choose, you two may never meet at all. Logic dictates that everything may also happen exactly as it has now – though the odds of that happening are slim, of course, when you think of the infinite number of choices that brought you to this very moment…"

Cecil slowly shook his head, the blood from his stalled pulse suddenly roaring in his ears as his heart kicked back into high-gear. I could save Kain. I could change the course of this world – protect it from Golbez before anyone got hurt. Before anyone had to needlessly suffer – Anna…Tellah…His Highness…Palom…Porom! If I picked the right place to restart, all of you would still be…!

He chewed on his lower lip, lowering his chin to his chest.

But…if I did that…if I restored the "game" from a prior state…

…There would also be no guarantee that I would ever meet them – I'd never remember any of this, because it will have been erased from existence. There would be no guarantee that I would meet Kain, or fall in love with Rosa…or even that I would choose to rebel against Baron, if that madness was to unfurl again and again…!

Even though it feels like I've been left with nothing now…if I were to go back…I would be risking the one irrevocable hope I still hold for our planet's future…

…The faith that I have in my friends…and in turn, the faith they've put in me…in my light.

I can't do that to them…I can't do that to anyone who calls our planet home.

"Thank you…but I decline," Cecil said softly, pushing the console back toward Nikita. "Even if this is all just some pre-determined roll of the die, as it were…even if my existence is just one of a million randomly generated tokens waiting for its turn to expire…" He shook his head, the despondent look on Kain's face when he had awoken materializing in his mind, "…My life means something, to someone in this world, at this very moment – so that means it's no longer just mine in which to do what I please."

"Very well," Nikita nodded, retrieving the box and sliding it back under the desk. "I can't say I would have made the same choice, but nevertheless, I respect it. When you and your friend return upstairs, you'll find the exit of this place, and will return to the dimension in which you belong."

"…Thank you," Cecil breathed, lowering his sweat-soaked hands back into his lap. He stood to leave, pausing just as his fingers clasped the doorknob. "Um…just one last question, if I may."

"Yes?"

"The reasons I told Kain I wanted to come here…those were all real. Those answers…will they ever come?"

"I don't know," Nikita smiled. "This is branch in our little game that I have yet to traverse."

"Cecil!"

Kain leapt up from where he had been holding court at the bottom of the stairs, rushing straight for him as soon as he had stepped out of the office. Before Cecil could comprehend what was happening, Kain threw arms around him, giving his back a hard slap.

"Ack!" Cecil gasped. "Can't…breathe…"

"Sorry," Kain muttered, pulling back as a stretch of pink blossomed across the bridge of his nose. He had been trying to make up for the hug he had soundly rejected from Cecil back in Fabul, but he didn't exactly know how these things worked. "I don't know why…but I got this weird feeling for a minute that I didn't think I was ever going to see you again."

"What?" Cecil shook his head incredulously, smiling as he rested his hand on Kain's arm. "Sorry…was I gone that long?"

"Seemed like it," Kain smiled back. "So…did you find out what it was Golbez was seeking on the moon? Glean anything we could use to defeat him?"

"Well…" Cecil sighed, "…Nothing like that. Basically, we're right back where we were. But he said the exit was upstairs, so I suppose that puts us slightly ahead."

"Not really," Kain groaned. "We were slightly ahead when we were back in bed. It all went downhill after that."

"Eh, good point. I'm ready to call it a night, if you are."

They raced up the stairs two at a time, Kain pulling ahead of Cecil easily with his long stride and handily beating him back to the first floor. As Kain turned to cross the threshold, Cecil paused to catch his breath a few feet below. He peered up at Kain's retreating form, calling out his name before he even realized what he was going to say.

"Kain!"

"…What?" Kain poked his head back through the door, his brows furrowed.

"It was fun." Cecil's smile climbed higher on his face through his belabored breathing. "Just like old times."

"…Huh!?"

Cecil's eyes snapped open, and he was greeted with the same muted duskiness he remembered surrendering to when he had first fallen into bed, nearly dead on his feet after their failed attempt to rescue the third Crystal of Darkness. He slowly pulled himself up in the bed, running his fingers through his hair as his memory from the night before painstakingly came back to him.

That's right. We're in the Underworld…no sun shining through the windows here, and no blue sky to greet us. We were escorted to the castle inn to recover from the battle against Golbez…and I don't remember a bloody thing after that.

He turned toward the bed to his right, which had already been vacated for the day and perfectly made up. Had Rosa slept there?

Across from him, Rydia was curled up in a tight ball, having kicked off all her blankets in the middle of the night, and to his left, Kain was sprawled out awkwardly across his mattress, his leg hanging out from beneath the covers. The dragoon's face was twisted in a pained grimace, Cecil's heart sinking as he wondered if his best friend was having a nightmare.

In an extraordinary show of mercy from the gods, it had been a rare, dreamless, sleep for the paladin.

"…I can't."

Kain shook his head, pulling his hand away.

"And why not?"

"Because…it's not my choice to make," Kain lifted his gaze from the console, taking a few steps back. "Everything I did up until this point…it was my decision – including not drawing the strength I needed to resist Golbez's enthrall. My path was the one of least resistance…it was easy for me to convince myself that I had been the one who was wronged – when the more difficult choice would have been to tell Cecil the truth in the first place."

"Oh?" Nikita smiled. "So, you're past all that now?"

"…I don't know," Kain whispered. "…I…I still want to be by his side…but…not like this. Not under another false set of pretenses. It may take me twenty days, twenty months, or twenty years…but I've got to understand on my own why I made those choices. It will only be at that point that I can then truly begin to heal that rift between us. I'm not taking the easy way out anymore."

"Very well," Nikita nodded, retrieving the box and sliding it back under the desk. "I can't say I would have made the same choice, but nevertheless, I respect it. You do know that if Cecil chooses differently, this may be the last time you ever see him again, right?"

"Yes." Kain felt an agonizing lurch in his chest that nearly knocked the breath out of him. "I do."

"Very good then. Please send him in, would you?"

~The End~