PRELIMINARIES: None of this belongs to me. Final Fantasy VI, and all worlds, characters, etc. associated with it are the property of Square. Square is not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with the creation of this story (a fact for which, I suspect, they would be profoundly grateful). I have made liberal usage of their characters and settings in this story; this was done without their knowledge or permission, and is technically an infringement of Square's copyright. As this story is, at the most pragmatic level, free promotion of the Final Fantasy franchise, it is hoped that they will regard this story (if at all) with a benign ignorance.

If you paid a wooden nickel for this story, not only have you been drastically overcharged, but whoever charged you has done so illegally, and I disavow any association with said individual(s).

Don't copy this story onto your archive. In the first place, if you want to it probably means that you were high on something when you read it; in the second place, it's an "in-progress" work; in the third place, I want to keep a very tight leash on its distribution. E-mail me if you simply must have this story, but do not anticipate my response and post it before I get back to you.

All feedback is welcome, up to an including line-by-line critiques (provided they fit in my mailbox).

Now, sit back and either enjoy the ride, or (more likely) enjoy thinking of what you'll do to me at the end of it...

The Author

The world's greatest...

Find me here...

All I know...

Come back...

Stop...

"Wake up, you fool!"

I cannot adequately describe the sensation of being yanked from a formless, shapeless nightmare to face one made flesh. Especially this one made flesh.

The leering specter roughly shaking me by the shoulders was, in the murky gray of early morning, a ghost right out of the darkest pit of hell: a stark black-and-white figure with hair even paler than his skin--if that was possible--flaring uncontrollably behind him and beady black eyes sunk deep into his emaciated sockets. His face was adorned with a hideous swirl of black claws that bled down from his left eye and swung up across his forehead.

I gasped and shuffled back on my elbows. He drew closer, grinning sadistically as his victim's escape routes were closed off.

I rubbed my eyes, blinked, shook my head rapidly to clear the cobwebs, and looked back up. The demon remained.

I screamed.

The demon blinked, taken aback by my sudden outburst. I scrambled back on my heels, only to feel the wall bump behind me. Trapped! I tried to get my feet under me, and cast about in a desperate search for some kind of weapon--in vain on both counts. There was nothing I could do but watch as he loomed over me, then threw back his head and burst out laughing.

Laughing?

"Oh...oh goddesses...that...that was worth the wait!"

A man's voice!

The sun chose that moment to break through the cloud cover that had hidden it from view, revealing that my "demon" was, in fact, a man. An ugly, unkempt man, but a man nonetheless. What I had mistaken for claws were in fact deep scars, accented far beyond reason by the overapplication of some kind of black--Makeup? A flash of inspiration hit me, and I glanced over at the table by the mirror. It was now vacant. Perhaps not so unkempt, after all.

My uninvited visitor coughed into his fist and stifled his laughter, then tried to glare at me. His constantly twitching lip ruined the effect. "You deserved that, after that 'introduction' you pulled on the Blackjack--"

"Who the hell are you?"

That took him aback. "You mean you really don't remember--" For a moment, I thought he was going to burst into tears; then, a sinister grin slid onto his face. "Well, now. I guess that means that I get a second chance at the formalities, as well, doesn't it? I," he said, drawing himself up, "am Setzer Gabbiani, world-famous gambler and traveler. And you"--there was no mistaking the contempt in his voice--"are the legendary Shadow." Legendary?! "Cowering under his bedsheets, and three to one says you just wet yourself."

I felt my face flush. "You lose," I said coldly, while I gathered my feet under me, braced for the jump, measured the distance to his throat--What the hell?!

I blinked, and glared at Setzer. "Did you have a reason for waking me up this early in the morning, or did you just want to see if you could give me a heart attack?"

Setzer flung one hand back across his forehead, and heaved a loud sigh. "Alas, pleasant as the thought may be, I'm afraid I'm here on a specific errand."

"Spit it out." I wouldn't have thought it possible to so detest a man within two minutes of meeting him.

"Quite simple, really. The others seem to have this crazy idea that as long as I agreed to let them borrow my airship, they should go gallivanting around the world to see if they can't find something that will help whatever's screwed up in that head of yours--not that you're worth the effort, if you ask me, but they are my friends. I thought you might want to say goodbye before they leave."

"They?"

"Terra, Celes, Locke--you know, them."

"Oh." Memories of the previous night's unspectacular attempt to walk flooded back as Setzer turned to leave. "You're all going?"

Setzer stopped in the doorway and stared at me, slackjawed. "What? You thought someone was going to stay here? Sit around all day and wipe your ass for you?" His lip curled in disgust. "You would, wouldn't you. Well, I don't know that it should matter all that much to you--it never did before--but we all have lives, dark man. They're not in Albrook, and they don't involve you." He turned, paused, then glanced back over his shoulder. "We're all downstairs in the dining room, eating breakfast. Takeoff's in one hour, goodbyes or no goodbyes, so get moving."

I sighed, then pushed back the covers and swung my legs over the side--and remembered something else. "Wait! Where are my--"

Slam!

"--clothes?"

"Looking for something?"

Blankets, I reflected as I spun through the air, must have some advantages over actual clothing. Unfortunately, what exactly those advantages were eluded me at the moment. Kind of like my footing.

I looked up from the floor to see the green-haired woman--What was her name? Oh yeah, Terra--standing in the way of a door I hadn't heard open, regarding me with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

I clambered unsteadily to my feet, holding the blanket around me with one hand and leaning on the empty dresser behind me with the other. I considered my options, and decided to give her a half-answer. "Some pants, for starters."

That raised the other eyebrow. "And what do you need pants for?"

"Right this moment, or just in general?"

She laughed. "Let's start with right this moment." Her grin faded, and her eyes narrowed. "Because I could have sworn Celes told you to stay in bed."

I had been on my feet for almost fifteen minutes, and I could definitely see the wisdom of that order. The prospect of abandonment, however, had compelled me to do some hard thinking, and I'd concluded that, while a nice luxury, it was an order I could afford to disregard, and quite possibly couldn't afford to follow. With clothing and a little luck, I decided, I should be able to survive on my own.

I always have before.

What the-- I shook my head briefly and looked up at Terra, who was still awaiting an explanation. "Right this moment, I need them so I can go downstairs to the dining room."

"If you're hungry, I can get you some soup."

"Thanks, but I meant to say goodbye before everyone left."

"What are you talking about? We're not leaving until tonight."

"Tonight? But Setzer said--" I broke off, coloring with disgust.

"I know what Setzer said--that's why I'm up here. He just came downstairs and tried to push his flight plan over us." Terra's eyes glittered in the sunlight. "Celes grounded him."

"Ouch."

"I'll give him your sympathies." She smiled. "So now that you know you'll be stuck with us for another day, why don't you come back to bed?"

"An excellent idea." My legs were killing me.

Terra took a step forward. "Need a hand?"

"That's all right, I can--" Fall flat on my face, that's what I could do. Terra was there almost immediately, kneeling by my side and helping me push up to my knees.

"Are you all right?"

"I'll live." I tried to come to my feet, only to make a frightening discovery. "I can't move my legs!"

"You must be exhausted. Here, I'll carry you." Terra threw my arm over her shoulder, grunted, and came to her feet, lifting me up in the process.

I tried to shift my weight, ease the dead weight for her somewhat. She didn't appreciate my efforts. "Stop struggling!" Another grunt, as she dragged me toward the bed while I held the blanket around me with my free hand. "For someone who--ugh--nearly starved to death--urk--you sure weigh a lot!" With a final effort, she dumped me on the bed, then dropped into the chair next to it, breathing heavily while I pulled the covers up over me.

At that moment, Celes' head popped in the door. "Terra, I heard a thump, are you--" She noticed me for the first time. "You're awake! How do you feel?"

"Tired," I managed.

"He's had a busy morning," Terra supplied as Celes stepped into the room. "Celes, could I talk to you?"

I rolled over on my side, closed my eyes, and listened to the low murmur of Terra and Celes' conversation. I heard Terra mention Setzer's name just before the door shut with a loud click.

Remember me in the shadows of the flame...

This waking up in strange situations was going to have to stop. This time, at least, I had a decent sleep, dreamless and peaceful and ended not by a front-runner for the title of World's Least Appealing "Man" but by music--specifically, the sound of someone whistling nearby. I laid still for a moment--not that I really had a choice; my arms were bound at my sides by what I realized after a moment was a tightly-tucked blanket--and concentrated on the tune. There was something familiar about it...

The small lights in my...

I grit my teeth in frustration. The snatches of words ran parallel to the whistler's melody, coming tantalizingly close to fulfillment before dying stillborn.

Promise me that you will--will--Damn it!

The words were right on the tip of my tongue, and I still couldn't remember!

This was getting me nowhere. I slowly opened my eyes, blinking rapidly to adjust to the rich orange glow that suffused the room, and raised my head. My whistler sat back on a stool against the dresser, examining a long, wicked-looking knife with a silvery-green blade as he held it up to the sunlight.

"Locke?"

The audible thud of his right foot hitting the floor was followed seconds later by a dull thunk as the knife sunk to the hilt in the floorboards. "Shadow! I thought you were asleep!"

"...I was."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--"

"No, it's all right." I waved him back as he stood. "I was wondering, though--what was that you were whistling?"

"Whistling?" Locke blinked. "I didn't realize I was. Bad habit, that..." His brow furrowed in thought. "Now what was I whistling? Hmm...no, that's not it...hey--no..." He looked up at me in bewilderment. "That's odd. I can't remember what it is!"

"Oh."

"Why do you ask? Do you recognize it, or--"

"I thought I did." I sat upright, and leaned back against the wall. "But I can't really even remember how the tune went, now." Locke shrugged and retrieved the knife, being careful not to touch the blade as he drew it out. "Sharp?"

"And poison-coated. And speaking of recognition..." He strode casually toward my bed, holding the knife before him at arm's length. "Does this look familiar?"

"Should it?"

"It was yours--you risked your life to get it, anyway. It's called the Striker."

"Striker." I tasted the word, felt the sickly-sweet promise that almost drowned out the bitter undertaste as I took an experimental slice through the air with its bearer. The knife was easy to handle, but I didn't feel anything special about it. "I risked my life for this? Why?"

"You never said, and no one asked. Actually, I don't think anyone really thought twice about it." Locke's face darkened. "We all risked our lives for things that really didn't matter back then."

"Oh." I handed the Striker back; he took it without hesitation.

"It's a good thing you had it, though. We wouldn't have recognized you if you hadn't had this."

"What do you mean? Didn't you know my face?"

"Well...no." Locke shifted uneasily. "You always kept to yourself--we never even saw you when you weren't wearing your mask."

Mask? I wanted to ask about that, but the look on Locke's face told me he wouldn't be very forthcoming, so I changed the subject. "So, when do you leave? After dinner?"

"Tomorrow morning. The Falcon blew a gasket around noon, and Setzer's turned Albrook inside out looking for a replacement part." He grinned. "You should have seen his face when Celes made the arrangements for another night at the inn. He really hates this city, for some reason."

Thoughts of Setzer brought his grim tidings and my current predicament back to the forefront of my mind. I should find out how much they'll do before they leave, and how much I'll be on my own for. "What were you doing that delayed Setzer's morning launch?"

"Just taking care of the details," Locke replied. "Restocking the Falcon, getting Terra a room at the inn, paying the doctor--you know."

"Yeah, I--" Wait a sec. "Terra's staying here?"

Locke suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah. She and Celes--they--well, at lunch--they had it out, really. Celes thought that she was going to stay behind, but Terra made a...pretty convincing case."

Stay behind?

We all have lives. They're not in Albrook...

"Doesn't she have somewhere else to go?"

"Sort of, up in Mobliz. But they've gotten along without her for some time now. They'll be all right by themselves awhile longer." He gave me a weak laugh. "That's more than I can say for you--walking and demanding pants a day removed from the brink of death? You may have lost your memory, Shadow, but you certainly haven't changed."

...and they don't involve you.

"But why? Why stay behind with me at all?"

The uncertainty gave way to outright anger. "Because you're one of us," he snapped perhaps a hair too quickly. He opened his mouth, hesitated, then went on. "You weren't as forthcoming as some of us, but for well over a God damn year you fought with us, you bled with us--you took down a god with us! When you vanished, we were ready to go back and search for you until the tower collapsed. No one even dreamed you survived that, and Terra really took that hard. She's seen too much death already, and she--" He stopped abruptly, his eyes widening. "What--what I mean to say is that we're your friends, and we don't abandon our friends when they're in trouble." He was actually breathing heavily by the time he finished speaking.

"Wait a minute." I looked at him in confusion, trying to pick from a dozen questions swirling in my head. "You thought I was dead? Why did you come back for me, then?"

"I--well, we didn't. We--well, we--" Locke suddenly moved for the door. "It's almost dinner time. I'll get you some soup."

He didn't exactly run out of the room, but the door shut behind him before I could say a word.