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The Spinning Wheel of Fate

by Manoftyr

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Chapter 1 (2006)
Chapter 2 (2006)
Chapter 3 (2006)
Chapter 4 (2006)
Chapter 5 (2006)
Chapter 6 (2006)
Chapter 7 (2006)
Chapter 8 (2006)

Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Emotions run rampant

The actual ceremony was over and an open casket wake was scheduled for tonight and tomorrow morning, with the funeral itself happening later tomorrow night. Most of the others were getting up when suddenly I saw Sabin and realized I *had* to do it.

"Mr. Thou... " I muttered barely able to contain my laughter.

Sabin turned and looked directly at me, I couldn't help but crack a wide grin "Goddamnit!" Sabin replied "it's been however many years and somehow it's *STILL* funny, damn I missed you man!" he continued.

"I missed you too... Mr. Thou pfffthahahahahah!"

"You were on crack back then Gau, hell you still are!"

"I know... Thou PFFFTHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I was laughing so hard my sides ached, somehow that act of pure random silliness way back then had grown into the single biggest inside joke between the two of us. Relm was still sitting, I guess she just needs more time to deal with Strago's death... I mean who does that leave her with, Shadow! Now, I'm not taking anything away from him as far as bravery and strength go... but he doesn't seem like much in the way of being of a dad. Then again, my dad was a crazy person who thought I was a demon baby and abandoned me on the Veldt as a newborn, and I turned out alright... somehow, so who am I to judge fatherly qualities!

My train of thought was quickly interrupted by Sabin. "You may have grown alot Gau, but I can still take you down any day of the week!"

I smiled cause' I knew where this was going "is that a challenge... little man?" I responded with a wise assed smirk.

"Oh! it's ON now!" Sabin replied, and he lunged at me.

Sabin tried to overbear me like he used to but since I'm pushing 7ft and around 300lbs now, he wasn't able to. I laughed and grabbed Sabin in a bear hug around his waist and fell forward with him to the ground, but Sabin manged to slip out and get onto my back.

Before we could continue wrestling any further, Edgar shouted out "Would you two asshats cut it out? we're right in the middle of a fricken church!"

Sabin got up off my back "Eh, what's the problem big brother? we were just goofin!" as I sat up and got to my feet.

"Yeah, but this really isn't the time... we're supposed to be mourning, not to mention you're right in front of Strago's body... it's disrespectful," Edgar retorted.

"Indeed," Cyan chipped in "perhaps thou shouldst continue thine contests of brute strength upon a later date?"

"Eh, alright," I replied, disappointed. Suddenly I felt a hand grab at my trouser leg, I looked down and it was Relm.

"Gau... " she asked looking up at me somberly, "Would you stay here with me for awhile?" she asked, and given the circumstances I couldn't say no.

"Alright Relm," I replied warmly with a smile and sat back down beside her.

Everyone began exiting the chapel as Relm scooted over closer to me then suddenly began to cry. Acting purely on instinct I reached my arms out to her to which she responded by nearly flinging herself towards me, resting her head on my chest and gripping my shoulders while still in tears. The Chapel was empty except for me, Relm and Strago's corpse... it felt quite eerie. I continued to comfort Relm by hugging onto her, I didn't say anything, there was nothing I could say that wouldn't just be stating the obvious or hasn't been said to her before a hundred times already by now. Relm's crying slowed into a gentle sob and finally subsided, then she looked up at me, not saying anything... just looking. She gazed up at me with this strange expression that seemed to contain a mixture of anxiety, fear and longing... it felt like she was looking through my eyes and into my soul, her lips were trembling. "Relm... what's wrong?" I asked, Relm let out a sigh, closed her eyes and sprang forward off the foot of her toes from the pew and directly onto me, knocking me on my back as she had taken me completely by surprise. Before I had even began to comprehend what exactly it was that was going on Relm was astride my chest gripping my face in her palms and pressing her mouth to mine, kissing me.

I couldn't begin to fully describe what I was feeling right then and there, it was unreal, it was a feeling like I hadn't been alive or had any idea what my purpose was up until that very moment. I kissed back, completely drawn into this single moment in time, I was aware of nothing else, nothing at all. I had no idea what brought this on or lead her to this course of action but at that moment didn’t particularly care, as hormones had more or less taken over entirely by this point. Suddenly Relm spun around so she was facing my legs, and began fiddling with my trousers, and I thought I had a pretty good idea of where things were going from there...

...

I laughed, I had honestly seen this coming a mile away. Everyone else was just sort of standing there and there was a short sort of uncomfortable silence, at least silent other then the extremely loud and obvious noises of Relm and Gau having sex in the back of the Chapel. Slurping and bumping noises could be faintly heard from behind the closed arched doorway, while Gau's loud yelping "YEAOOOOOOOOOUU"s and "UWAIOOOYAYAYAYAOOOOO"s boomed out leaving little to the imagination.

Suddenly Sabin broke the silence "... Gee, I hope they're using protection" he said half-seriously in an attempt to lighten the mood, Celes who was standing next to me couldn't help but start to break a wide grin, then all of a sudden began laughing hysterically. I turned to look at my wife who was keeled over laughing like a maniac and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Calm down, it wasn't that funny" Sabin reasoned.

Celes took a few moments to regain her composure before replying "Heck yeah it was!"

There we all were just standing around with this uncomfortable silence, all of us knowing what’s happening but none knowing what if anything to say about it and out blurts Sabin 'Gee, I hope they're using protection' pfffftAHAHAHAHAHA!" she continued laughing like a madwoman while Sabin just shrugged his shoulders.

Rachel tugged on my pant leg. "Daddy, what're Relm and Gau doing?"

I laughed. "Ask mommy when we get home," I replied without skipping a beat.

I looked around, everyone had varying facial expression at this turn of events, Cyan was looking towards the ground with an embarrassed expression, Celes was 'still' laughing, Edgar looked kinda sad for some reason and so did Terra for that matter, Sabin was still perplexed as to what about what he said was so funny... and frankly so was I. The only person who didn’t seem to show any emotion at this turn of events was Shadow *who had just returned from around the side of the church where he was doing god knows what* and this didn’t surprise me at all as he is an asshole.

I don't care what Sabin, Terra or anyone else has to say about the guy, I know his kind. He's an asshole, he's everything I hate. He ditches his responsibilities, doesn't give a damn about anyone, does whatever the hell he wants, I don't even know why he bothered to show up today, well, I suppose he is showing some sort of appreciation for everything Strago did for him by showing up. People tell me that I'm really judgmental of Shadow and I suppose that’s true, but, it's hard for me to like someone who's done so many bad things... at least Cid is trying to make up for all the crap he did. I do respect the instrumental role he played in saving the world, and I 'definitely' respect him as a warrior... but as a person I do not like him and don't think I ever will.

I know I promised Celes I wasn't gonna say anything to him, but I felt like I had to so I looked over and shouted out "Hey Shadow! don't you even give a damn that that’s your own daughter gettin' it on with Gau in there? Don't you have anything to say or any reaction at all? Do you even care about her at all?"

Shadow looked back at me and shrugged. "Wasn't it you who said she "had no family"?" he replied in that cold, raspy chilly voice of his.

I wasn’t about to let him have the last word, so I pressed onward.

"Well with the way you're behaving I think you can certainly see the rationale behind my statement!" I shouted back, everyone was staring at me but I didn’t care, I had to let him know what I thought.

"It's better then preserving the corpses of girlfriends who died as a result of my actions in some nutjob's basement," Shadow replied dryly.

I snapped and lunged at him but Cyan and Sabin held me back, I expected Celes to yell at me for breaking my promise but apparently the same comment that struck a nerve with me had struck one with her too, that damn mother hen syndrome she has about my past I suppose.

Celes was in Shadow's face "You're a real piece of work Clyde, YA KNOW THAT?!" she shouted incensed, Shadow stared back blankly not even blinking as Celes continued ranting "How *DARE* you make light of my husband's personal tragedies! if you had HALF the balls he did you'd... YOU'D OF OWNED UP AND BEEN A FATHER SEVEN YEARS AGO!" Celes shouted, nearly screaming.

Shadow continued his blank stare "Are you done?" he replied as per his usual cold manner "Locke really was right about you... you're a pathetic coward!"

"And your husband stores dead girlfriends in basements."

*POW*

Celes struck Shadow closed fisted directly on his right temple knocking him back. Shadow leapt to his feet and grabbed Celes by the throat, the 'instant' his hand made contact with her Sabin lunged and nailed him square in the face with an openhanded palm thrust, hard, and I mean 'HARD' Shadow must've flown back like six or seven feet before Sabin grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him up against the side of the church.

Sabin looked pissed, and was staring directly at Shadow "You listen to me and you listen good 'Clyde' if you ever... EVER put your hands on Celes again I'll straight up *KILL* you... UNDERSTAND?!" Shadow was bleeding from the nose and started laughing.

Sabin dropped him on his ass, and he kept laughing as he got to his feet "yeah I understand" he replied still cold, he dusted himself off and walked off "I'm going down the pub" he said as he walked off in that direction.

I ran up to Celes with Rachel right behind me. "Are you okay dear?" I asked.

Rachel clung to Celes. "Mommy, mommy are you hurt mommy?" she cried.

Celes stood back up, having fallen when Sabin nailed Shadow

"I'm fine," she said.

"What in the hell got into him?!" Sabin thought out loud.

"Maybe he's mad because his daughters found a new 'daddy'," Setzer chipped in with a laugh.

"Sir Gabbiani, is't such crassness truly called for? Tis improper to speak aloud of such matters," Cyan lectured.

"Lighten up! Geez you're livin' in the past!" Cyan rolled his eyes as Setzer let out another laugh.

"There might be something to that actually Setzer," Cid theorized. "This Shadow seems quite the strange fellow, underneath all that meanness and coldness I'd wager he's a chaotic mess of everything... he might actually have been quite angry or even hurt but it took Locke reaching out in a sense to trigger it.

"You're reading too much into him Cid, he's just an asshole, I know his type," I voiced my two cents.

Cid continued "Well, in any event I think our two... 'young lovers' as it were have stopped... engaging? Shall we put it? Shall we send someone to retrieve them?"

"They'll come out when they're good and ready Cid, I'll wait for them" Terra spoke up, "you all can go and do whatever," she continued.

"Weeelll, I'm going to go 'down the pub' as Shadow put it so eloquently," said Setzer.

"Hey!" I spoke up "Caaaan, I borrow the airship?" I asked, Setzer rolled his eyes "to go exploring, come on you 'know' how much I love to travel places" I whined.

"Fine, fine," Setzer tossed the keys to me. "Just bring 'er back in one piece... and no hanky-panky you two! You know what I mean." he concluded as he went down to the pub.

"I think I'll go have a drink as well, this 'Shadow' is quite an interesting man, I can't help but psycho-analyze him" Cid said.

"No he isn't Cid. You're reading way to much into him. Anyway Terra can you look after Rachel for us? An airship isn't safe for a three year old."

"Noooo, I want to go toooooooooo," Rachel complained

"No it's much to dangerous!" I stated firmly in that tone that let Rachel know there was no shifting me on this.

"Hmph, fine! Aunt Terras more fun anyway! Nyah!" Rachel pouted and Terra laughed

"Don't worry, I'll look after her" she said.

I ran towards Setzer's airship practically dragging Celes behind me, I couldn't wait to fly that baby all over...


...

It was over but I still didn't want to let go, I hugged onto Gau tightly still laying on top of him I hadn't even bothered to put my clothes back on yet. Haha, poor Gau I still don't think he had fully processed everything that happened so I thought I'd spell it out for him.

"I guess what I was trying to say was, I love you" and I kissed him on the lips.

Gau still had the same expression of mixed shock and euphoria he had when we started, his mouth was gaping in this weird sort of smile and his eyes were fixed on me, finally he spoke.

"Was I just raped?" he asked jokingly causing me to laugh.

"Caaaan, I take that as an 'I love you too'?" I asked.

"Well, having never 'been' in love before and having absolutely no past experience or references to go by, I'd have to saaay... ... yes, definitely," he laughed, and I laughed with him.

I got up off Gau and started wiggling back into my clothes, I could sense Gau staring at my rear-end

"You've certainly got a womanly physique," Gau stated.

"Oh gee thanks, that's just a nice way of saying my butts big" I teased as I wiggled back into my back into my black undergarments and britches then secured my dress around my waste as Gau simply leapt to his feet and pulled up his loose tartan trousers as I snapped my bra and top back on.

"Well, what do we tell everyone else?" Gau inquired.

"Gau, I think they heard us" I replied.

"Oh yeah, I was working up quite a scream wasn't I?" I giggled.

"Yeah you kind of where... I take it as a complement" Gau laughed.

"Hold my hand on the way out! love?" I asked with a sweet smile.

Gau smiled tenderly and took my hand "I can certainly get used to this!" he exclaimed, again he made me laugh,

"Me too... me too" I responded.

We walked together, hand in hand through the back door and back around the church, I was surprised to see everyone had left except Terra and Rachel,

"Hey you two!" Terra shouted as she waved us over, smiling. Terra walked up to us with Rachel in tow, she looked us over and smirked"well, everyone certainly heard what you two were up to" she began before she was interrupted by Rachel.

"And they 'STILL' won't tell me what it was!"

Terra laughed

"You'll find out when you're older" I said.

"Hrmph" Rachel grunted "I want to know NOW!" she pouted.

Terra smiled and walked up to Gau, she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug.

"Gau, you've been the closest thing I've had to a son, I think I'm always going to remember you as the curious sticky-fingered wildboy always eager to learn... now, you're a full grown twenty one year old man."

Terra started sniffling a little bit, Gau put his arm on her shoulder and looked down into her eyes .

"You taught me everything I needed to know, you took me in as your own and taught me to read and write and talk... for all intents and purposes you were and still are my mom, and, I love you ma," Gau said as he hugged Terra

"I love you too... Son," Terra replied, still tearing at the eyes.

After a few minutes Terra regained her composure and walked over to me

"Relm... he's all yours now, take good care of him."

"You don't have to worry about 'that' Terra" I replied with a smirk. Honestly I thought Terra was overreacting a bit, Gau isn't even her son! And it wasn't like any roles were changing, and she had to know he wouldn't be a 'boy' forever... but... I guess it's better then not caring at all like Clyde, and he actually is a biological 'parent' in the loosest possible usage of the word.

"Where is everyone else, anyway?" I asked.

"Well, Celes and Locke borrowed the airship and are probably gonna be gone for a bit, Cyan and Sabin went off into the woods somewhere to train and everyone else is at the pub... and there was a bit of an 'incident' Sabin knocked your dad on his ass and bloodied his nose up."

Gau made a shocked expression as I laughed out loud. "Hahahaha! What the hell did he do?"

"Well... Locke ran his mouth a bit about Clyde being a jerk by not showing any interest in you, then Clyde brought up Locke's ex lover... and well Locke snapped and Sabin and Cyan had to hold him back, then Celes got in Clyde's face and started shouting at him and Clyde said something snippy and mean that I didn’t quite make out and then well... Celes popped him."

I laughed, I was finding this entire story to be quite amusing "Hahaha, I swear Celes is like Locke's mother, but go on, get to when Sabin clocks my dad."

Terra continued .

"Well, Clyde reacted be grabbing Celes' neck, but I'm sure it was completely on instinct since his reflexes are like lightning, then Sabin lunged at him hitting him in the face with an open palm and sent Clyde flying backwards five or six feet, then he grabbed him and threw him up against the side of the church and threatened to kill him if he ever touched Celes again, then Shadow walked off to the pub."

Terra finished and I started laughing again. "Hahaha, thats quite amusing... especially seeing as how it's like everyone else and their mother has to take care of Locke and suffer the consequences of his mistakes for him," I replied.

"I feel bad for him, Shadow I mean, not Locke" Gau spoke up. "It sounds like Shadow was really pushed and Locke didn't have to run his mouth, It's not like Locke has any right to be judgemental of the guy, he doesn't know what's going on in his head or what he's been dealing with his whole life, actually I'd think Locke would be more understanding, but he's not exactly the most mature guy in the world," Gau continued.

"And Celes really had no right to get in Shadow's face the way she did, Locke's not a little kid and she's not his mother she's his wife, and I don't entirely blame Shadow for how he reacted when Celes hit him, that would hurt, Celes is a statuesque Valkyrie with muscles of solid steel, she'd knock most guys right out."

Gau kept talking, he seemed quite opinionated on all this. "Sabin didn't have to freak out like he did either, I know he sees Celes almost like a little sister but it's not like Celes couldn't of gotten away from Shadow if she really wanted to, he didn't have to lunge at him and threaten him, if anyone 'should' have, it would be Locke, but I'm surprised he can tie his own shoes in the morning without Celes' direction."

I shrugged, "dad really brings it on himself though, he didn’t have to mess with Locke's and Celes' heads the way he did" I reasoned.

"Well in any event, I'm going to take Rachel on a walk through the woods," Terra stated,

"Yeah! I want to see what Sabin n' Cyan are doin'!" Rachel added as she practically dragged Terra away.

"Strago left the old house to me, come follow me... stay here with me awhile."

Gau smiled, nodded and followed as I lead him to the house...

Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy VI
Version 6
©1997–2024 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)

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