A place to express a final fantasy IV monomania (scribblings, paintings, daydreaming, reblogs), an interest for final fantasy 9 and love of fantasy knights in general.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
âHow far does your support go?â Cecil asked. âWhat are you willing to offer?â
âBaron has a dealt us a great insult,â King Dorje said. âWe would not have it go unanswered. We would give you men and ships to sail them there. As many as you require.â
An army, then. Cecil imagined it, and the fact that he was giving the idea serious consideration made him feel dizzy and mad. âMost of our navy was dismantled and converted into airships,â he said. âWeâŠÂ could most likely sail an army to Baron unimpeded, butâŠâ The Red Wings would blow them to pieces before they ever reached Baron proper, andâŠ
âSurely if I so much as threatened it, theyâd kill Rosa,â Cecil said. He had a sudden negative fantasy of a messenger delivering him Rosaâs head.
âIf they did, theyâd lose all leverage they have over you,â King Dorje said.
âYouâre suggesting I call their bluff?â Cecil asked. He shook his head. âNo. I canât do it. I wonât do it. My father was more than willing to send me to my death, I donât believe heâd hesitate.â
âA ruler cannot weigh the life of one woman against his kingdom, no matter who she is.â
King Dorje had thrown a wrench into the engine that was Cecilâs brain. The gears shuddered and stopped as he recalled every time his father had said or insinuated that he shouldnât be allowed to lead, that he was too soft, too sentimental, even as he put himself through the torment of mastering the dark sword, even as he learned to command the Red Wings. Perhaps King Odin wasnât even wrong. Cecilâs terror at the thought of Rosa being tortured, injured, killed⊠it paralyzed him. He couldnât think straight. If that meant he was unfit to rule then who was fit? How could anyone who had ever loved do this? Cecil looked at King Dorje. His lips pulled back and the muscles in his neck quivered. He couldnât muster up the words to make his argument. It was going to come out as spitting insults or tears.
The child is absolutely right : monsters stories are the best ! I love how the relationship between Rydia and the eidolons is developped here. Also monsters are really monsters here : smart, sometimes friendly, but they are beasts above all ...
Itâs a very nice podfic, I spend a good hour listening to it (fortunately I remembered reading it, it was better for understanding). Thank you for the sweet mention at the end of the podcast, and more importantly for writting this fanfic for me. My favorite thing about ff4 fanfiction is when the lore is given more substance by fans and I like how it was expanded here.
Final Fantasy IV Week, Day 6 Prompts: White Magic & Black Magic : JobSwap, Studying, Recovery
âLook at this.â Yang unfurled a scroll. âI spent much time in the Sylphâs library while I recovered. They have many texts on healing spells and techniques. With study, you could learn them.â
âI canât use White Magic anymore,â Rydia said.
âWhat happened?â Yang asked.
âI decided to focus on Black Magic and Summons,â Rydia answered. âI swapped defense for offense.â
Yang rerolled the scroll. âI see.â
âRosa would love these,â Rydia offered, sensing his disappointment.
The girl he remembered, and the woman Rydia had become werenât the same, Yang realized. âGood idea,â he said, although the words were strained.
Three Crystals down and Cecil just got his ass kicked. The plan to get to Fabul ahead of Baron didn't really work out.
Immediately after the battle, Yang is revealed to have been a filthy liar when he said the king was safely evacuated earlier.
The uninjured monks are off sulking about the fact that no high kick on Earth could have possibly kicked an airship out of the sky. They didn't even have a fighting chance in that siege.
The injured monks are very confused about Baron suddenly having monsters in their military.
And Yang's wife is very proud of how much ass she personally kicked during the battle. Truly, the real shame is that Cecil has to settle for Yang instead of taking her along. She'd have this war sorted out in an afternoon.
After taking stock of the damages, Cecil and the others retire to the inn to figure out what they're going to do from here.
EDWARD.
THAT IS NOT YOUR CONCERN.
YOUR PEOPLE NEED YOU.
EDWARD.
GO BE KING OF DAMCYAN
EDWARD.
The plan is to steal an airship from Baron so that Cecil can pursue Golbez and recover Rosa. Her kidnapping has completely flipped the script on the "Thwart Baron's aggression" plot and now defeating Baron is just a stepping stone to saving Cecil's girlfriend (again).
Fortunately, Baron suffers a critical weakness, and that's lack of a robust navy.
Cecil doesn't say this, but I choose to believe that Baron has no navy because they keep converting all of their warships into airships.
They have shipwrights out there like, "JUST ONE. Can we have JUST ONE warship you don't strap wings to!?"
And Cid's out there like, "Nope! Fire it up, boys!"
The bedridden king not only grants Cecil the use of a boat for sneaking back into Baron, but also sends Yang with him. Like Edward, this is a questionable decision.
Yang was the only experienced monk Fabul had left after the massacre on Mt. Hobs even before the Battle of Fabul. Do. Uh. Do they not need his expertise to train what's left of their students?
Why would the king send Yang away now of all times?
The king also offers some explanation for why Fabul has Dark Knight equipment lying around, though this doesn't explain why they're producing and selling his gear in their store.
Unless it's a full set of the same gear. In which case, uh... What happened to the Dark Knight?
Either they're making equipment to sell to a customer base of "Some guy we met years ago" and nobody else....
Or they mugged him, took all his stuff, and threw him naked out into the wilderness. Or buried him in an unmarked grave near the castle.
Third option, the king kept all of his stuff out of spite after they broke up.
In any case, the important thing is that Cecil has a ship and also some forewarning that, as a Dark Knight, he'll never actually be able to stand up to Golbez. He'll never be the man to undo Baron's stranglehold on the world so long as he is still the monster of Baron's making.
It's something for him to stew on as he finally makes his way homeward.
How about you take your frying pan and go with Cecil and Rydia, while Edward goes home and Yang stays here to train new monks. How about that? I think that would be a perfect division of duties.
I choose to believe she trained the next generation of monks in Frying Pan Fu. It made them 10x more formidable than ever before. A key focus of their training was studying how to throw the frying pan with enough force to knock an airship out of the sky.
Unfortunately, as the ship approaches Baron, things go awry in the worst possible way.
If the massacre of Mist and Cecil forsaking his people for Rydia can be considered the end of the prologue, then I think Leviathan attacking the ship can probably be considered the end of Part 1. Everything changes here.
What's really interesting about Final Fantasy IV in comparison to other RPGs is how unstable the core party is. Unlike other games where you slowly build out a stable roster of characters, people drop in and drop out of Cecil's party all the time.
The Battle of Fabul and subsequent Leviathan attack are a wake-up call not to get too comfortable with any particular cast of characters.
Rosa's been taken by Golbez and just when it seemed like a plan was underway to bring her back, an ancient sea monster of myth and legend showed up for seemingly (not quite) no reason and ruined everything.
Rydia fell into the ocean. Yang dove in the waters after her. Edward collapsed on the deck. And all three of these characters are now lost at sea. Cecil won't be seeing them again for a good, long while.
I don't like this art - yet I worked so hard at it back then- sob- but I wanted to upload something FFIV after so long ^^ what I actually need is new art, of course! but a little more KainEd/BardGoon is always good to exist, I guess c: more and this time new, hopefully coming soon!
Final Fantasy IV Week, Day 5 Prompts: Love & Hatred: Wedding, War, Family
As the wedding procession made its way through Baron, most cheered their love for the royal couple. One man, however, threw a bucket of blood at the carriage.
âMurderer!â the man cried, pointing an accusing finger at Cecil. âYou killed my brother!â His accent was Mysidian and his face, now that Cecil really looked closely, was familiar, except Cecil remembered it twisted with pain, begging for mercy as Cecil brought his sword downâ
âYou bring nothing but war and death!â the man declared as the guards hauled him away.
As long as there is hate, Zeromus needlessly warned from afar.
Final Fantasy IV Week, Day 4 Prompts: Truth & Lies: Delusion, Confession, Disguise
The girl slept or at least pretended.
Cecil sat on the other bed, his sword across his lap; the dark blade glittered in the candlelight. Cecil peered closer and saw his reflectionâs judgmental eyes.
You disguise yourself as a hero and perpetuate this delusional lie that you are worthy of redemption, Cecilâs reflection accused him. Youâll never face the truth or confess your crimes; youâll always just be Odinâs weapon.
âI cannot be better until I do better,â Cecil whispered.
The door was thrown open and several Baron soldiers entered.
Cecil stood, his sword in hand; it felt somehow heavier.
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