After the topic on Kefka, I decided to try my hand at a fanfic revolving around the events prior to the story at Narshe. I'm trying to follow Square's 'official' description of Kefka and timeline/events, so let me know if anything doesn't really match up. So General Leo is a little kid at this point (10, I think?) and anyone younger than 18 hasn't been born yet. The story will take a few jumps through the timeline, but this is the first chapter. Hopefully I'll stay motivated enough to finish it. Enjoy!


Chapter 1:
Infusion

Kefka floated in a glass tube, completely walled off from the rest of the factory, submerged in a pale green liquid. Bubbles tickled his naked body as they slid upwards, lurching towards the top of the tank as fast as they could, smashing into each other and either breaking apart or fusing together, only to continue their journey upwards again. The bubbles came from his mouth piece, too, which fit snugly around his head. It was the only way he could breathe in the tube. The only sounds accompanying him underwater were the sounds of his own breathing and the gurgle of the bubbles pouring upwards. His eyes were tightly closed, although he could open them under the liquid, there wasn’t anything to see. Nothing he hadn’t seen already, that is.
He could picture his surroundings, inside the magitek factory. Metal ramps and catwalk everywhere, scattered like a web, as if each section was added as an afterthought to the other. Tubes and piping every which way, exposed and letting off steam constantly like great heaving snakes, twisting around in angles where they pushed whatever it is they carry to wherever it was that they’re supposed to go. The churning of the wheels and gears, the whizzing of the machines and conveyer belts, the hissing of the hydraulics attached to great cranes, hefting machines from one end to the other. The sound of metal boots striking the catwalks. It was enough to make his head spin despite the soft sounds of the bubbles and his breathing.
Kefka knew that Cid was watching him at this very moment, just as a scientist watches a lab rat. He was too chicken to get in the tube himself. Him and his team of scientists were all too scared to jump in there.
“They can’t handle what I can,” Kefka thought, and grinned from ear to ear. He imagined his crimson lips stretching across like two snakes, their black striations becoming more evident as they stretched apart. He licked his lips, imagining the taste of the two scarlet snakes on his tongue. “Too bad Cid can’t see my smile, the dirty voyeur.”
He moved his arms along his body a little bit, feeling the tubes connected to his body. They stung a bit when they were jostled, but overall he couldn’t feel them. Eels, he thought of them as, little eels that stuck to his body. There must have been fifty, no, a hundred of them, stuck in his body, pumping fluids into him. Pumping power into him.
It was that power that drove Kefka to get into the tube, enduring the long hours of a transfusion that was never before tested. It was altogether unsafe, or so he was told by many of the scientists at Vector. He didn’t care. He could use the power of the espers. He could use magic.
Whenever anyone mentioned magic, he thought immediately to Gestahl. He’s the one that went into the espers’ home and plucked them out like one plucks eggs from a hen house. They didn’t even fight back. Why anything with that much power refused to fight back was beyond him. What good was power if you didn’t use it? They must’ve been too chicken, just like the scientists staring at his naked body right in front of them. That’s why he would relieve the Espers of their power, take it for himself, and use it like it was supposed to be used.
“Uhee hee hee hee,” he laughed, although he was sure no one could hear from beyond the glass and the mouth covering. It mattered not. He was content that the power of the espers would soon be his. If his transfusion went well, other elite knights would be next. They had also empowered machines with magic energy, the same energy about to pour into his veins through the eels connected to him. ’Magitek Armor’ they were called. More machines of power. He reveled in the idea.
He first heard about the transfusion process in class. That’s when he learned about espers and magitek armor. Surely the empire would be unstoppable with such power, he thought at the time. Then through his hard work and studies, he stumbled upon the knowledge that machines weren’t the only thing that could be imbued the espers’ powers When he requested to work with Dr. Cid, nobody objected to the idea and he was admitted to the magitek factory. He worked with Cid on studying espers and infusion process. Eventually he proposed that humans can be infused as well. After Cid presented the research to Emperor Gestahl, it was almost immediately funded and Kefka volunteered to be the first person to receive the transfusion. He wanted so dearly to impress the emperor and to aid him. He wanted to be something, to be someone.
He felt the tubes and wires connected to him hum to life and start to pour their energies into him. The espers’ energies. He saw one before getting into the tube. A mysterious, four-legged creature with a long, slender body and a long face. A single horn stuck out from right above its eyes. It looked weakened, dying… drained. It’s azure eyes locked onto Kefka’s, sending a chill down his spine. It wasn’t a look of fear or anger, but of a strange type of despair. It was beautiful.
He saw other espers, too. From afar. Ones that looked like giant fearsome feral dogs, some that looked almost human but with strange skin color and horns and a much bigger build, and some that looked like small winged people. Were they all really of the same brood? Were they all really that powerful? Then why not use their power? It made no sense.
There was another esper they found in that cave. Or half esper, really. A baby, not even old enough to crawl yet when she was found. She had golden wisps of hair on her otherwise bald head. She cooed softly in the incubation chamber in which she was kept, watched much like the scientists watched him right now. Studying, calculating, thinking… Was she, too, half of those strange creatures? Or something entirely new? What use could she be to the empire - to emperor Gestahl? She too young now, far too young to display any magic power, but he was sure she would eventually be able to use and cast magic. He wanted that power… desired that power. Would taking in the espers’ power make him like her? A human with magical power? That little girl was indeed a valuable research tool.
The humming of the tubes became gradually more intense as the essence of magic started to pour into him. His head started to feel light, gradually making him feel dizzier. His blood felt cold to him, but his body felt warm. His skin started to tingle and his mouth became dry. “Is this what magic feels like?” he wondered.
Then, everything went white.
*****
“What’s going on?” Cid shouted. Kefka’s body, twisting and convulsing inside that tube, was an ill omen. “Shut it down, he’s in trouble!” Cid yelled again at the scientists around him.
“You will do no such thing,” boomed Emperor Gestahl’s voice. Cid span around to see the emperor, standing alongside several high class guards. His black robe and hat were a stark contrast to his silvery white hair and moustache. The rest of the scientists were on their knees. Cid wondered when the emperor had entered - he hadn’t heard a thing. Perhaps he was too concentrated on his work?
“Emperor!” Cid called, turning around to meet the gaze of a wizened looking older man. “Emperor, Kefka cannot be made to bear such torture. Losing him would be a terrible blow to the-”
“Enough! He volunteered for this. If he dies in there, his death will help you figure out what to do right next time, no? Or is this project too much for you like it was for the last director, Cid?” Emperor Gestahl said calmly.
“N-no!” Cid almost shrieked. “Of course not. Everyone, get back to work, monitor Kefka’s vitals.” Cid turned back to Kefka’s floating pale-white naked body. Even within the green liquid it was evident he was in complete agony. His body writhed, his fingers and toes splayed and crooked, his eyes wide and unblinking… it was almost too much to watch. But he had to. He had to make sure this worked. “Decrease the output by twenty-five percent, add more water to dilute the infusion…”
“We’re losing him, director,” came a scientist.
“Damn it, decrease the output by fifty percent. Subtract valves G through L and increase the temperature of the tube by two degrees,” Cid barked. He watched the scientists pull levers and press switches, and observed the hisses the pipes made. He grabbed a clipboard and started furiously scribbling down numbers and equations. He had to make Kefka live… he had to.
“He’s stabilizing, sir,” one of the scientists said. Cid looked up to verify, and indeed Kefka’s figure became more relaxed. His body drifted into what looked like a peaceful sleep.
Cid breathed a sigh of relief. “Increase the flow by one percent every minute until you see any more fluctuations.”
“Good work, director,” Emperor Gestahl said.
“Thank you, Emperor,” Cid panted, turning around and bowing.
“So this is what a magitek infusion is?” came a man’s voice.
“General Tial Chere, you’ve come,” Emperor Gestahl replied.
A large burly man stepped out from behind Gestahl. His blonde hair alongside his heavy plate mail armor gave him a fearsome appearance. “I could do without this sort of visual… but overall it’s quite impressive.” He shifted his gaze to Cid. “Ah, Dr. Cid, I’m sorry for not noticing you amongst all these machines. My apologies. You must be quite busy.”
“Indeed,” Cid responded. “But things seem to be going smoothly.”
“You will one day be in there, General,” Gestahl said.
“I am not so sure I wish for that, sire,” Tial said. The Emperor huffed; it was brazen for anyone to speak to him in such a way, even if it was as politely as Tial put it. Yet Emperor Gestahl trusted Tial with his army.
“Congratulations on your daughter, General Tial,” Cid said, smiling. It took a tremendous effort just to force that out.
“Thank you, Dr. Cid. It’s been, let’s see… almost a month now since she was born,” Tial smiled.
“What did you name her?” Cid asked.
“Celes. A beautiful name for a beautiful child. She takes after her mother, you know.” Tial almost glowed, completely obvious that he took pride in his family. He deserved such happiness. Happiness and peace was what the empire was fighting for, after all. “Dr. Cid, if I may, who is it in that tube?” Tial asked.
“Kefka Palazzo. He graduated top from his class; a brilliant young man. He’s actually the one that proposed magitek infusion process. With my backing, of course.”
“Impressive. He volunteered for this?” Tial asked.
“Indeed. He heard about the research from his studies and asked to be infused. The beginning of the process will be harsh, but if he makes it through this… when he makes it through this… he won’t need to be hooked through a tube like this anymore.”
“It’s the first step that’s always the hardest,” Tial sighed.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Cid replied.
“Kefka Palazzo… I’ll remember that name,” Tial said. “He’ll certainly go on to do great things with the power of magic.”

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