[Final Fantasy IV] Every Light Casts A Shadow, Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Mysidian Campaign

[lassarina]

Pairings/Characters: Kain Highwind, plus cast
Rating: R (overall), G (this chapter)
Warnings: Spoilers. Violence and language. Occasional sexual content. Other warnings may apply that are not listed here.
Notes: This fic belongs to the Lucis Ante Terminum arc. Chapter list is here.
Summary: Though it is possible to return home, it is rarely possible to return affairs to their previous state. Sometimes the only course of action is to move forward.
Wordcount: 3900 this chapter.
Beta: celeloriel

Fifteen years after Zeromus

"I do hope you are not having a case of cold feet," Rydia remarked dryly. "We have come rather far to turn back now."

Kain looked around at the massive encampment of soldiers, sailors, mages, ninjas, and all the other ingredients of a war, and shaded his eyes to look east into the morning sun at the gleaming white walls of Mysidia. "No, Queen Rydia," he said with as neutral a tone as he could muster, "I rather thought I would haul three armies here, build an encampment, then turn right round and go back home having accomplished absolutely nothing but a colossal waste of my time and everyone else's."

Rydia laughed. "He's expecting us," she said, jerking her chin in the general direction of Mysidia.

"I imagine he has eyes," Kain retorted. Still, her words made him uneasy. Mysidia had been armed to defend against a massive siege before they even arrived. Few nations could muster that degree of armament in the day or two that would have passed between Mysidia becoming aware of their approach and their actual arrival; Baron could, and probably Fabul, but not many others. "You think he has a spy."

Rydia shrugged. "I don't think it's impossible."

Kain sighed. "You started this process," he muttered. The year prior, Rydia had invoked her power as High Summoner of Mist to summon all of the rulers to a convocation, and proposed that they retake Mysidia and dethrone Livius, putting Solon in his place. The Mysidians who had fled after Livius's coup had made a good home in the ruins of Mist, and had rebuilt the village significantly. Rydia had even managed, after great effort, to teach a few to summon the simplest of creatures. They had all agreed never to speak of the goblin incident ever again, and Palom had sworn on his sister's life that he would never do that again. Yet, Solon and the others longed to return home, and given his willingness to seed plague among innocent civilians, Livius was obviously not a tolerable choice for ruler of Mysidia. Thus, after a year of preparations, they had sailed to Mysidia with enough armies to topple three nations.

"I have twice had my home torn from me," Rydia said sharply. "If I can restore another's home to them, I will do it."

He winced. "You are wise, and kind."

"Your praise delights me." Rydia's tone was as sharp as the blades of ice she summoned at her whim.

Kain was relieved of having to answer her by Edge's arrival. He had taken a team of his best ninja to investigate the castle's defenses, since they could move unseen even over the plains outside the city. He looked grim beneath his mask, and at the moment he was showing every one of the years he had on Kain and then some, his face lined with weariness and strain.

"The news is not good, I take it," Rydia said, after having greeted Edge with a kiss.

Edge ran a hand through his hair, which was already much-mussed, and sighed. "Let's get everyone together," he said. "I don't want to go through this more than once, especially since there'll be arguments about what to do. And I need some water."

"I'll give you water," Rydia muttered, but the threat had neither intent nor heat behind it. "All right. I saw Yang training at the east beach; I'll have someone go get him. Solon is—"

"Present," the sage finished, coming up to join them. "How are things, Edge?"

"Not doing this twice," Edge repeated. "Let's go to the—what do you call it, Kain? Central headquarters or something? I'm out of practice at war."

Rydia's mouth compressed into a thin, flat line at this, and Edge sighed and put an arm around her. She leaned against him for a moment, and some of the strain on his face lightened. Then they stepped apart and walked toward the tent that had been declared for the commanders' use. Jalen was already there, his fair head bent over the maps as he moved tiny wooden figurines around in imitation of tactics. Rosa had not wanted him to come, but he had insisted. Rosa had successfully kept Sophia at home, arguing that ten was too young for war. The Princess had not been pleased in the slightest.

The map on the table in the center was already set up with a mostly-to-scale model of Mysidia and the surrounding lands, with the walls and buildings exactly replicated according to their original maps. Rydia had sent the sylphs out upon their arrival to make a new survey, and although the individual sylphs' impressions weren't always reliable, they had assembled a decent picture from the accounts of all of them. Had they been fighting another army, Kain would have been fairly confident in their ability to starve the Mysidians out, weaken the fortifications, and win this handily, if not quickly.

Magic complicated the matter.

Jalen looked up from his efforts and made them a half-bow, then stepped back to give them all more room. Kain knew that Jalen wouldn't hesitate to ask questions or give his opinion, but he tended to listen first and ask questions later, much as Cecil always had. Kain prodded the sticks that represented the forests around Mysidia and the rock that represented Mt. Ordeals, more for something to do than because he thought they were misplaced. Edge flung himself across a couch and sprawled with limbs stretching in all directions, then made himself sit up enough to pour and drink a cup of water. Rydia claimed her usual seat at the east side of the table and leaned her elbows on the table, staring at the map as though she would find something new hidden in it. Solon began to diligently rearrange the portions of the map that Kain had dislodged, though that level of precision wasn't necessary.

Waiting was always the worst part of war—apart from the deaths.

Yang was quick to arrive, and the tension in the tent increased. He looked around and sighed. "I suppose we should know what challenges we face," he said, when no one spoke other than a desultory greeting.

Edge swung his legs off the couch and leaned his elbows on his knees. "If Mysidia were an ordinary castle—if, for example, we were fighting in Baron or Fabul—this would be easy," he said. "Tunnel under the walls, poison the water, sneak in and assassinate the commanders—lots of options."

Kain made a mental list of changes to make to Baron's defenses that closely mirrored ways to mitigate Edge's list of possible actions.

"I do not intend to make it necessary to enact such measures against Fabul," Yang said mildly.

"Nor I," Jalen added. Kain gave him an approving smile and he ducked his head, a bit embarrassed.

"I didn't say I would," Edge protested, and yes, there was the Edge that Kain remembered from before everything had fallen apart. "I just said I could. I mean, poisoning the water is a time-honored way to end a siege."

"I would like to think," Rydia said, "that we would not slaughter an entire nation for its leader's crimes. We are not Golbez."

Kain was almost pathetically grateful that she did not look at him when she said those words.

"I am confident we can find another way," Solon said. "Why would your usual tactics not be effective, King Edge?"

Edge waved a hand with an exasperated sigh. "Seriously, Solon, I think we can all be on a first-name basis here. Titles get in the way. And if we're not friends by now, then I think we have bigger problems." He heaved himself up off the couch and walked over to the table, looking tired. "Livius is either paranoid or he knew we were coming. All of the walls have been reinforced somehow—I don't know enough about magic to know, but the stone is too sturdy. It rumbled like a Quake spell when one of us tried to climb the outer wall. Pretty clever, actually—Rydia, we should figure out how to do that." He pointed at the small watchtowers that had been added to the outer wall since last Kain had been in Mysidia. "These are staffed by black mages; they cast a couple of minor thunder spells at us, more as a warning than anything, I think. And only after we touched the walls. I don't think they knew we were there until that."

"So you can't climb them?" Jalen asked, frowning.

"I can climb anything I want to," Edge retorted. "Anyway, any army we bring near them is going to get fire and meteors and Eidolons know what else dropped on their heads, so throwing our soldiers at the walls until they fall isn't going to work. It's sort of hard to sneak-assassinate people if the walls declare your coming, although I could probably do it, but it's probably more trouble than it's worth. And I mean I can probably poison the water, but it's full of white mages in there. They'll just fix it." He waved a hand irritably.

"What if we cast magic against the fortifications?" Jalen asked. "Even stone can crack under enough flame."

Rydia flinched, and Edge laid a hand over hers for just a moment. "That much fire is dangerous, Jalen," he pointed out. "Think of Mist."

Jalen drew in a sharp breath and winced. "I'm so sorry, Aunt Rydia," he said, looking stricken and much more like his thirteen years than he had a moment ago.

Rydia ruffled his hair, but said nothing. Kain wondered if Jalen could discern the difference between her affectionate gesture and actually accepting his apology, and reminded himself to ask later.

"They will likely have embedded Reflect spells into the stone as they were adding the Quake magic," Solon said with a shake of his head. "It may be possible to cast over the walls, but as previously mentioned, that runs the risk of harming those who may simply be trapped."

"So then how shall we approach it?" Kain asked. "I confess I am unskilled in matters of unconventional warfare."

"What is conventional is dependent upon one's point of view," Yang said.

"Well...." Edge made a somewhat scrunched-up expression. "I have a few thoughts. Rydia, would you allow a one-time repetition of the goblin-summoning incident? Under controlled conditions," he added hastily.

Rydia's mouth hung open for a moment before she snapped it closed. "Edge, perhaps you do not recall, but that particular experiment resulted in significant damage to half of Mist," she said in a tone of utter disbelief.

"Yeah, I know, but goblins aren't really Eidolons, right? I mean I think you said that was true," Edge said. At her confused nod, he hurried onward. "So we could sacrifice some. We could summon a bunch and then send them against the walls, which actually is just a feint because I want them to be paying attention to goblins everywhere when we actually strike."

Utter silence descended upon the tent.

Edge stared at them defiantly.

"You—" Yang paused and appeared to try to reorganize his thoughts. "You want to turn a goblin horde loose on Mysidia."

"In a nutshell, yes," Edge said.

"Have you gone mad?" Kain spluttered.

"Rydia thinks so," Edge replied, unconcerned. "Anyway so we distract them with goblins and then, Rydia, that's where your skills are needed. Fight fire with fire, right? Or I guess earth with earth. Anyway. Titan ought to be able to bring down the walls, right?"

"I—" Rydia blinked. "I would imagine so, yes. I've never tried to use an Eidolon for something like that."

"Right, so, goblins distract them, Titan brings down the walls, and then we can go in and take down Livius—don't look at me like that, seriously, I just mean knock him out and drag him out here for a trial or something, I guess that's your choice, Solon—and just like that, we win Mysidia. Without spending any of our soldiers' lives." Edge wore an enormous grin.

It was an entirely mad plan. However, it might be just mad enough to work.

Solon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If the Lord Titan would not be harmed, I think that portion of the plan would be quite good," he said.

"It would be good if none of our soldiers need die," Jalen said. "I would prefer—fathers should go home."

"Earth cannot harm him," Rydia said. "Edge, this might not be the stupidest thing you have ever proposed."

Edge made her a sweeping bow. She shook her head, but she was smiling.

"All of this is dependent upon the assumption that not all Mysidians are pleased with Livius's rulership," Kain said, studying the map again. "I suggest we ready the armies with as many protections as we can, in case a straight battle is called for. Solon, how many of our soldiers could you protect from magic?"

Solon shrugged. "The weaker the protection, the more of it we could do. For example, casting Shell on a large portion of the army would be doable, although it would reduce our capacity to heal soldiers quickly should they be wounded. Reflect would be more effective, but would shield fewer people—and if, gods help us, there is anyone in there who has learnt to cast Meteor since Sage Tellah unsealed it, I am afraid we can do nothing at all. A Quake spell would be similarly troubling, though unlikely since it would affect Mysidia as well."

Rydia grimaced. "Then let us hope no one has mastered that particular spell," she said, though she sounded doubtful. "It took me quite some time and being in desperate danger of my life while we were on the Moon, but..."

"I would think that if Livius's grip on power were that secure," Yang said, "we would have had more difficulty with Mysidia before now. Even the one attack he has made relied on an unwitting accomplice. Did not Skerrin say that few in Mysidia were pleased?"

"They need not be pleased if they can be controlled," Kain said, "and we have no proof of Skerrin's reliability."

"Still," Yang said, "if Livius had to resort to people who would undo his work the moment they realized what they had done, that does not suggest that he has that level of support."

"We are taught, from the cradle, that our magic is for protecting ourselves and bettering our lives, not for war," Solon said. "Until Damcyan I had never seen mages ride to war before. I am troubled, to say the least, that Livius has chosen to flout that teaching so frequently and so thoroughly."

"In Mist, too, the Eidolons were to be used for our protection," Rydia said. "I remember my mother telling me so, and Lady Asura said that it was always that way. It would be easy to conquer other nations with that power, but had we done so, everyone else would soon band together to prevent our expansion. It would end not entirely unlike Baron's efforts fifteen years ago."

Kain crushed the impulse to defend his homeland. Rydia's words had not been censorious. "Unless the plague was mere bait," he said, "but I think King Yang is right. I suspect that, much like with Baron, if we can topple those who give the commands, we can win this fight." He looked at Edge. "If Queen Rydia brings down the barricades with Titan, can you get in?" he asked bluntly. "Or will the magic remaining in the walls stop you?"

Edge shrugged. "It probably won't stop us," he said, "but I can't guarantee anything. I mean, I'm amazing at what I do and I think I could get in one way or another, and I don't mind charging in with a degree of confidence that some people think is stupid, but I'd want to take a lot of healing items with me. It'll slow me down, but I'm pretty sure I can still kick ass on anyone who gets in my way."

"Then let us do as Edge has suggested," Yang said. "Solon, can you and Rydia speak to Palom about the goblins?"

As one, they sighed. "So help me, Edge, this plan of yours had better work," Rydia said. "I do not want to have to destroy half of Mysidia in an effort to curb Palom's enthusiasm."

"If it is for Mysidia, I hope he will exercise some restraint," Solon said, but he sounded doubtful. He and Rydia shared a wary look, then departed to arrange for Edge's plans to begin.

The others quickly scattered, leaving only Kain and Jalen in the tent. Jalen moved back to the map and started moving soldiers around, though Kain was unsure what battle plan he was using in his movements. He watched in silence as Jalen moved the red and blue tokens that betokened fire and ice spells, tipping over Chocobo-mounted forces and soldiers willy-nilly.

"What troubles you?" he asked at last, when all of their allies lay fallen and Mysidia was triumphant.

"Are you going to fight, Uncle Kain?" Jalen looked up at him from under a shock of pale hair—he really ought to cut that, it would do him no favours beneath a helmet—and his dark blue eyes were intense.

"If I am called upon to do so, yes," Kain said. "I was a soldier before I was your Regent, Jalen. Fighting is what I know how to do best."

Jalen frowned. "Then I order you not to fight," he said in a rush.

"I beg your pardon, King Jalen?" Kain was honestly so surprised that he could concoct no more interesting answer than that.

"I order you not to take to the field," Jalen said, more firmly this time. "Baron needs her Regent, and—you haven't taught me everything I need to know yet." His lip wobbled the slightest bit, despite his apparent best efforts to contain it. "I don't want you to go away like Papa did."

Kain leaned forward and braced his arms on the back of the chair. "Are you sure of this, Your Majesty? It may be that our chances for victory will suffer."

Jalen shook his head. "You can issue commands from here; Lord Darmin says that is how many commanders fight. He says you and Papa had 'some damn-fool insistence the men would fight better beside you.' And anyway, nothing in Uncle Edge's plan requires you to be in the thick of the fighting." He paused, and winced. "I do not think Lord Darmin wanted me to repeat what he said."

Kain laughed, for he could exactly hear Lord Darmin's dry tone in delivering that particular statement. He was not offended; Lord Darmin had likely forgotten more about war than Kain had known in the first place. "Lord Darmin likely did not intend you to relay that statement," he said, not bothering to keep a straight face, "but he is correct in saying that your father and I prefer to command among our soldiers."

"You haven't said whether you will accept my order," Jalen said.

Kain was surprised that jalen was still so focused on the question, though perhaps he should not have been. Cecil and Rosa both displayed similar traits of single-mindedness. "If you truly think it best, my king, I will command from the rear," he said.

Jalen's shoulders sank a little with relief. "Thank you," he said.

Kain studied him, bemused. "May I ask why you told me first that I have not taught you enough?"

Jalen flushed a little. "Mama says that when I want something she doesn't think I should have, I have to prove why it is good for me," he said. "If that is true for things I want personally, then it must also be true for royal commands." He paused and looked suddenly uncertain. "It is a selfish order," he admitted after a moment, "but there are good reasons for it, also, Uncle Kain. I mean. Lord Regent."

Kain nodded. "Very good," he said. "And if it had not been good for Baron?"

Jalen hesitated. "May I not give orders to keep my family safe? If the outcome is indifferent? I suppose if it were a case where you specifically had to take to the battlefield or all would be lost, that would be a problem. But you don't have to, and anyway, Captain Darmin says that if an army relies on only one commander then the war is lost before it started."

Kain raised an eyebrow. "You have been spending a lot of time with them," he remarked.

Jalen bristled. "I'm thirteen," he said. "It's time for me to learn how to command, because I am going to need it someday. Lord Darmin offered to teach me military tactics, and I asked Captain Darmin how Dragoons change the traditional tactics."

"I can think of few better teachers," Kain told him honestly.

Some of the prickliness in Jalen's manner subsided. "Then why are you angry?" he asked, a little more plaintively than he likely intended.

"I am not angry." Kain reached awkwardly to hug him, and Jalen squeezed tight enough that he found breathing a moderate challenge for a moment or two. "I am simply...surprised. It seems that never do I blink anymore but you and Princess Sophia have grown up a bit more, become more adult. It is strange."

"Mama says that too," Jalen grumbled. "It's not fair. We can't be little forever."

"Your mother worries for you," Kain said, and then something occurred to him. "You do not intend to ride with the army tomorrow, do you, King Jalen?" he asked in as mild a tone as he could manage.

Jalen huffed and glared at him. "I cannot very well ask you to stay behind and then go charging out myself, can I?"

Kain rubbed his mouth to cover the smile, though it was imperfect at best. "I was merely ascertaining your intentions, Your Majesty."

"No, you wanted to make sure I wouldn't do anything like you and Papa did when you were twelve and rode into battle when King Odin forbade you to," Jalen retorted.

Kain winced. Lord Darmin had been feeling chatty.

Jalen rearranged the figurines on the map until all stood properly upright and precisely arranged once more. "Thank you, Uncle Kain," he said. Then he frowned. "Isn't it strange, to have to defer to me sometimes even though I'm so much younger than you are?"

"Sometimes," Kain said, nudging a model of a tree slightly east to better align with the rest of the forest. "Why do you ask?"

Jalen shrugged. "Most adults don't take orders from children," he said, and his mouth twisted a bit to the side. "What if I say something stupid? I could get people killed."

"You are not yet King alone," Kain said quietly. "We your Regents may yet overrule you; more likely, though, I would tell you why I disagreed and hope you would change your mind before I had to resort to that option."

Jalen thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Very well," he said. "Thank you, Uncle Kain."

He departed the tent, and Kain remained, moving figurines on a battle map and wondering if Jalen would be allowed to be the King he seemed to want to be.