"What do you mean he's gone?" Celes asked, looking up with a frown at Locke.

Locke shurgged, shaking his head. "Gogo gave a letter to Terra. She wouldn't say anything about it except that he was planning to...I don't know, distance himself."

Celes sighed as she pushed her hair out of her face. "But he kind of distanced himself since we met him. Why does he want to do it more?"

Locke rubbed his eyes, frustrated with the whole thing himself. "Terra knows, but she won't say."

"But why tell Terra? I mean why did he tell her?"

Locke shook his head again. "I have no clue, love. Everyone seems to be wrapped up in their own dramas this week. Gau is seing his father, Relm left to look for her father, Edgar...Edgar doesn't look well actually. Everyone is doing bad."

Celes said nothing. She knew that when Locke got real quiet he was in deep thought. And she couldn't blame him. She herself was wondering what the hell was going on.

*********

"Hey, the floors look great," Sabin chuckled as he walked up onto Doma's main balcony.

Cyan shook his head and smiled. The balcony was torn up, ready to be remodeled. Trust Sabin to try and lighten his mood.

Sabin folded his arms, looking over the landscape. "Hard to believe so much has happened in such short time," he murmured.

Cyan nodded. Not everyone was used to the serious side of Sabin, but he had one and Cyan was quite fond of it. He tucked a graying strand of black hair behind his ear, his face grave but soft. "All this destruction, and all the rebuilding," he said softly.

Sabin studied the old knight for a long time. "I have a horrible question, but can I ask it anyway?"

Cyan nodded, fixing his dark eyes on Sabin's blue ones.

Sabin took in a deep breath. "Do you forgive him?"

He meant Kefka. Cyan turned his face away, looking out again on the land, his brow furrowed in deep thought.

"I thought I'd never say it, but...I don't know if I forgive him. I'm very, very hurt by what he did, but..I pitied him."

Sabin studied a crack in the wall. "Explain."

"Remember when we managed to sneak into that bar in Vector?"

"Yes."

Cyan found a small pebble, tossing it over the balcony. He watched it fall. "There was a soldier in there who talked about when Kefka had those experiments done on him."

"Like Celes," Sabin added quietly.

Cyan nodded. "The soldier mentioned that during the experiments, something in Kefka snapped. It made me think..."

Sabin tilted his head, pondering. "Like what would have happened if whatever in him hadn't snapped or something?"

"More like...what was Kefka like beofre that? What if it it hadn't happened? Would he have done what he did?"

Sabin's eyes widened. He had never thought of that.

Cyan sighed. "What if he had been this warm, sweet child. Would he had grown up into a different man. Not be as inhumane as he had? Think about it, Celes is fine now, she went through the experiments..."

"Yeah, but she didn't snap." Sabin scratched his head. "Kind of makes you think about things a little differently."

"Indeed."

*********

"So he just...left?" Setzer asked, taking the wrench from Terra and tightening a bolt.

Terra shrugged, not sure how to answer. "I don't want him to, but..."

Setzer stood up, wiping the sweat off his face with a rag. "And you won't tell me why he said he was leaving, but from what it sounds like he has a good reason."

"He does, he's afraid. He doesn't think any of us will understand."

"Weird." Setzer tugged at her hair. "So why tell you? That's so unfair to us people. It's like we were...rejected."

Terra smiled. She was no longer "in love" with Setzer, in fact, she had never really been. She had just been lonely, desperate. But Setzer was very dear to her, he was her closet friend right now.

"There's a lot in there I cannot tell you."

"I understand." Setzer helped her up, leaving the engine room and going down the hallway. "But you should try and find him, convince him not to go. Do you want him to go?"

Terra clutched her head. "I don't know. That letter left me with so many questions."

*********

"This really is none of your businees." Kefka didn't yell, but his voice was hard.

Doctor Sarkutin sighed. He was used to Kefka, used to this manner, but after all these years he was still grieved over it. He had known Kefka before the man could walk. So many years ago, so many changes...

"I can't ignore it any longer. And the others are beginning to worry. We hear screams, beatings..." he began.

Kefka smirked, but it was more out of frustration than cheerfulness. "Why do any of you care about me or that little pathetic girl?" he sneered.

"She is not a child, Kefka! She is a young woman horribly traumatized by what you did, what you are doing to her!"

"You think I care about her!" Kefka spun around, his green eyes ablaze. "She is my toy, something to keep me entertained! I like hurting her, like watching her suffer! You know that better than anyone else! You know me better!"

The doctor sighed sadly. "You're right, I do. And I knew you before, when you were a child, before you became-"

"A monster," Kefka finished, turning his head away. His face became unreadable and his eyes stared off somewhere.

Doctor Sarkutin watched him. "Do you know what will happen to Lyren if you keep this torture up?" he asked softly.

"I don't care," Kefka answered quickly, but his face was still unreadable.

"You will. Because it happened to you."

Kefka turned his head, eying the doctor with confusion in his eyes.

"She can only endure so much, and she has endured all her life. She is at a point where she can't even try to stand up because she will be pushed again. She will slowly start to die...inside."

Kefka said nothing.

"You are going to end up killing that lovely woman, the same way..." The doctor coughed, his features becoming sad, and he cleared his throat.

Kefka still watched him, his face impassive.

Doctor Sarkutin walked up to him, touching his hand. "I knew a boy, long time ago, a young boy who was carefree and kind, a young boy who loved everyone clsoe to him very, very much."

Kefka's face hardened a little, but it didn't look mean. He turned his back to the doctor.

But the doctor went on. "And then the Empire took that little boy away, and when I saw him again I knew it was him, but I knew...I knew when I talked to him again after that...I knew that little boy was lost forever."

Kefka kept his back turned. He was still as stone.

"I'm pleading to you Kefka, if you keep this up she wil lgo mad, and...what happened to that boy will happen to her."