Riku shook his head, grabbing the man by the hand and pulling him away; it was as if Cecil were a toddler. To be honest, though he had the physical appearance of a man of twenty, Cecil was, in many ways, a child. He had the curiosity and naivety of one, and the disposition to match. You just couldn't stay angry at the man. It was impossible. This innocence was always attributed to his loss of memory. When they had found the man he was wandering, alone, confused, in Beast's Castle.
"No buts, Cecil. Come on. You've got Aerith worried," Riku scolded, and Cecil looked away, ashamed.
"I..."
"What would you do if I weren't here to chase after you?"
"I'm sorry..."
Riku smiled ", No. It's all right. Just be more careful next time, okay?"
"Okay," Cecil agreed, though he knew he would wander away again; he had to sometimes.
When they returned, Aerith waited them patiently by the door to the castle, where they had recently taken residence. They had moved here because it was the only place large enough to hold all of them at once.
Who were they?
They were the Resistance… in this dark time, a necessity against the Nobody forces that controlled a majority of the Worlds. They were all that was left of those who opposed Marluxia, Sora, and all his lackeys. They were lead by DiZ, a mysterious entity who had seemed to take interest in the struggles of the small ragtag band.
“You found him,” Aerith sighed in relief.
“Yeah. He was worried about the Heartless,” Riku explained.
Cecil looked at his hands guiltily.
“Well, just get him inside. Intelligence just came in… There’s another raid coming soon,” she looked terribly sad.
“Cloud and Leon already evacuated the citizens to the dungeons,” the voice of a young man named Bartz came from the top of the stairway.
Bartz was one of the Refugees, much like Cecil. Leon had found him wandering around Wonderland, being chased by the Suits. Apparently, he had accidentally made the Queen of Hearts angry at him when he’d taken food off of her table. Not that he’d intended to… he was just hungry... How was he supposed to know she would try to be off his head?
Cecil looked up at the skyline, seeing the large blimps gathering on the horizon. Their troops were preparing to attack.
“This time, there may not be a city to come back to…” he heard Riku mutter.
“I’m helping you fight them this time,” Cecil declared. “You can’t keep me back here forever.”
“You’re not experienced enough to go out yet,” Riku said. “Bartz, get ready.”
“No!” Cecil’s eyes blazed. “I can do it. If Bartz can, I can.”
“Cecil…”
“Let him go,” Riku spun to see DiZ, staring down at them from the balcony above with domineering eyes.
“… He’s not ready,” Riku countered, his own eyes holding much force behind them.
“Cecil… is more prepared than you might think,” a slight smile played on DiZ’s lips. “Let him go.”
Riku clenched his jaw but complied when Aerith placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. When he looked up at her, her eyes were filled with a silent plea to obey the man, be it for good of for ill.
“Okay, but you stay by me, Cecil. Always. You got that?” Riku told the man, who smiled sincerely and nodded with the exuberance of a child.
“Thank you, Riku, you won’t regret it!”
Riku sighed, his thoughts going out to the people huddled, afraid and cold, in the dungeons “; I certainly hope you’re right about that, Cecil.”
[BREAK]
A/N: Well, a little teaser of my writing style to see if you'll like it or not. A forewarning - the first world they go to will be Aseria - a world at least one of you has to know about. It's one of the few Worlds that Marly doesn't have control of, and that's becasue it is protected from the outside by the will of a massive tree and its gaurdians. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, this will be Kharlan Era, so no Lloyd or Colette, but there will be plenty of Seraphim to go around. As for how they get to that world, well, you'll just have to wait and see...
About the poem...
I took bits and pieces of it from the Mythgraven Legend in Final Fantasy IV... Why? Well, you'll have to wait and see, right? It has a lot to do with how important Cecil actually is to the story, becasue, as some of you know, the FF game that Cecil comes from is IV.
Well, that's really all. I hope you read this and leave a comment or two for me. I need feedback or I won't know what needs impprovement.
