Born With Magic (Book 1 Of The Last Fantasy Duology)

Chapter 9: The Tunnel Armor

"Locke..."

Locke jumped a bit at his name suddenly being called, as there had been an intense silence for the past few moments as he tried to get the rusty key he stole from the soldier to properly fit into the door lock he and Celes wanted to pass through. Locke stopped trying for a moment and looked up at Celes, his new companion, who was staring intently at him with those chilly blue eyes, making a shiver run down his spine. Locke was about to open his mouth to reply, when Celes just cut straight to the point.

"Why are you helping me?" She demanded, her tone full of curiosity that was easily hidden by the ice that lined it. Locke felt his cheeks slightly redden. He hadn't been expecting her to ask him something like that. Therefore, he did not have too much time to make up a semi-logical reply. He certainly couldn't understand at the moment the reason why he had helped her himself. He said the first thing on his mind.

"You remind me of someone..." He trailed off and bit his lower lip, wondering how she would react. He wasn't too surprised when the look on her face didn't change a bit, so he quickly added "But what does it matter anyway? I just want to, ok?!" At that point, he jammed the key into the keyhole again and gave a hard twist, causing a loud 'click' to echo off into the room. As if on cue, the door suddenly swung open, and Locke and Celes were faced with an even darker and damper hallway than the one they had previously been in. Celes stepped ahead of Locke, going by her natural military instinct, but he tugged on her hand and pulled her back.

"Let me lead." Locke said.

"Very well." Celes replied, obviously not in the mood to argue. "But I remember this place. They dragged me through here when they caught me and..." Suddenly, a shiver ran through Celes' body, and she hugged herself tightly. Locke reached out, alarmed that she may collapse, but Celes turned away quickly, knowing that she didn't need any help. Even this... supposedly fearless rouge and Returner couldn't save her from her memories...

"I was just going to say my sword is in here somewhere." Celes said softly. "I dropped it when..."

"Ok, you can tell me where to go." Locke offered. Celes nodded and fell into step with Locke as he began to walk, still keeping her arms around herself.

The cellar passageways were miserable and dripping from all corners... it was obvious that it was not used often. However, despite the lack of light, it was still easy to maneuver around, as there was only one path and all Locke and Celes had to do was keep their hands against the walls. Locke looked over at Celes once or twice to make sure she was still beside him, as she stepped and breathed so quietly. Her pale hand seemed to almost glow against the gray walls with a soft blue light... But Locke couldn't tell if he was just seeing things or what. Suddenly, they heard another set of footsteps, pounding from ahead of them at an alarming rate.

"There she is! I see her, General Celes!"

"Get her! She is a prisoner of the Empire!"

"Celes!" Locke cried, and held out his arm to block her from going any further when the pair of Imperial Guards that they had heard made their debut. However, Celes had other ideas. She quickly lifted her hand that was against the wall, which was now glowing a brighter blue. Locke knew this wasn't his imagination. Celes closed her eyes and softly whispered:

"Ice."

At once, her hand flashed once brightly before returning to it's normal skin tone, and a shining laser of blue shot out of the ground and shot through each guard, zigzagging for a few rounds before shooting out through their heads and disappearing into the ceiling. Celes said nothing as she heard the two guards suddenly slump to the floor, each of their face's the same blue color as the laser. They had been instantly frozen to death, from the inside out...