Cliff
CLIFF and Lovel were locked outside of Ouka’s factory.
“For crying out loud, what’s so important that they have to talk about it now? Things have turned sour between them because they’re both not honest with their feelings anyway,” Lovel complained, incredulous. She plopped down in front of the door. Cliff sat down beside her.
“At least he seems serious ‘bout helping us. He might surprisingly turn out to be a good person, that Ouka.”
“Yeah, but…I don’t think he’ll take me to where Sephiroth is after all,” Lovel said, her shoulders sagging. Cliff found that disappointing too.
“What happens if Jair finds out where Sephiroth is first?”
“I think we’re safe for now…? He can’t move Sephiroth without the red cube we’ve got.”
“Okay then. Now that we’ve got Ouka on our side, we just gotta regroup with Erie, and then…”
“And then we might stand a chance at defeating Jair,” Lovel finished his sentence, her voice brimming with excitement. But Cliff sunk into despair when he considered what defeating Jair really meant.
“…Hey, Lovel? I fought Jair.”
Lovel whirled her head toward him. “When?”
“A little before I rescued you. I fought him with Erie.” Cliff pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them. “That was…Master Roche. His actions and words seemed like somebody else’s, but I’m positive he’s my master.”
“……”
“But I can’t forgive him. He tried to kill Erie for real, and there’s what he’s tried to do to you, too… I want to protect you from him.” Maybe he didn’t have the right to say that now, without Gandolf. But he couldn’t stop himself from telling her.
Cliff gazed right into her pretty eyes and said, “So please tell me, why is Master calling himself Jair? Why is he after you? Lovel…who are you?”
“…..”
“I want a reason to fight. Give me a real reason to do this, Lovel.” Suddenly, soft, warm arms wrapped around him. Lovel was hugging him.
“Just when I was thinking you’re just a boy, you suddenly became a man…” He heard her happy voice right next to his ear. Heat flushed his face and the blood rushed to his head.
“L-Lovel?”
“You did save me, didn’t you, Cliff? I haven’t had the chance to say a proper thank you yet, but you made me really, really happy,” she told him, releasing him from her embrace. She gazed at him as he remained still, in a stunned daze. “I’ll share our past with you and you alone…”
And so, she began to tell her story. “My mom tried to leave me behind the Torah Church right after she gave birth to me. I was an unwanted child. But then a man named Grinzam persuaded her against it.”
“Grinzam? Isn’t he the Rabbi the Church calls a heinous traitor?”
“Yup. But he was a nice guy. He persuaded my mom to change her mind and raise me. Mom went on to quit her job as a woman of the night, and eagerly worked her butt off at the mines.”
“She worked in the mines as a woman? Was she a Golem Tamer?”
“Nope. Mom’s predisposition made her completely incapable of forming Engrave Incantations.”
The word predisposition struck Cliff like lightning. Proficiency with Engrave Incantations varied from person to person. Practice mattered, but it was a world where natural talent mattered even more. Lovel’s mom unfortunately lacked any innate talent, rendering practice useless to her.
Lovel continued the story as Cliff’s heart wept for her mom. “That’s why Mom used the Golems Grinzam created to complete her work in the mines. We were poorer than dirt, but our days together as mother and daughter were tons of fun. Grinzam often assisted us whenever we needed it too.”
Lovel had been speaking with a look of nostalgia, but then her face darkened abruptly. She cast down her eyes and continued, “But…Mom died when I was nine. She died in a Golem Berserker accident.”
“She did?!”
“Yeah. There were a lot of crudely made Illegal Golems in the mines back then, causing frequent Berserker Accidents. And mom got caught up in one…! …Grinzam helped me care for Mom with his young disciple until she died.”
“…He had a disciple?”
“Mom had changed her mind about abandoning me, but another woman abandoned her child at the Church later. With no other way to save the child, Grinzam raised the boy as his disciple… He gave him the name Jair.”
Cliff drew in a sharp breath. “Jair…?! You mean the Jair we know?!”
“Yup. I’m almost certain your master is Grinzam’s disciple from back then.”
“But how? Master had no parents and…” Cliff trailed off when he hit on his own answer.
Now that he thought about it, Master hadn’t lived on Chest Island since the day he was born. He once told Cliff that he moved to Chest Island eight years ago.
“That’s it…!”
Various doubts and questions became clear when he thought along those lines. Things like: where Master had been before they met, why he could use Remote Engrave Incantations, and why he called himself Jair.
Master used to be a Church boy. He changed his name to Roche when he moved to Chest Island! Cliff concluded.
“…Jair went to Chest Island, and I moved into the Academy dorms after Mom passed away. Unlike Mom, I had the ability to form Engrave Incantations, but the real reason I went to the Academy was because it was her wish for me. She didn’t want me to walk the same path in life she did.”
Cliff felt fulfilled when he heard her story. He had thought they were from two completely different worlds, but their backgrounds were similar. He thoroughly understood the loneliness and solitude of being left alone in the world. And he wanted to save her all the more for it.
“What happened since then? Why’s Jair after you now?”
“It happened early in the morning the day I met you, four days ago. Jair appeared before me for the first time in eight years with the cube. He told me about the plan to use Sephiroth to destroy the Church then, too.” Lovel gnawed her lower lip, her expression conflicted. “He told me, ‘Your mom died at the hands of a Golem. Such tragedies will disappear from this archipelago if the Golems do.’ But I couldn’t stand for that.”
“So you stole the cube from Jair and went straight to the Church?”
“Yup. I thought Grinzam would still be working there. I never imagined he’d be dead, and I especially didn’t think he’d be labeled a traitor.”
“And the Church didn’t believe you either…making you think you had to fight this battle alone.” Cliff glanced at Lovel’s profile—she was smiling.
“I wasn’t fighting alone… I’m not alone. I have you.” She lifted her head and looked at him. Emerald eyes gazed at him. “Thank you, Cliff. Thank you for fighting with me.”
“…If you’re fine with me, I’ll stay with you till the end.”
“In that case, I want you to promise me one thing.” Lovel took his hand in hers. “No matter what lies ahead, don’t think about killing your master. I’m pretty sure there’s a good reason for his change. A reason we just don’t know.”
“I think so too. So of course, I’ll make that promise with you. I want Master to return to himself too.”
“I knew you would… Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to do something about it,” Lovel said, and softly smiled. Cliff’s heart ached slightly.
She was definitely still hiding something from him. Her story had holes. The holes had begun from the moment they met, when she told him she had never made a Golem before. The fact that she hadn’t heard any news about the man who saved her life didn’t add up either, not when he was so involved in her life up until her mother’s death. What she had talked about didn’t answer any of those questions.
Does Lovel know the reason why Master changed? Cliff intuitively knew she did. Perhaps her far too kind attitude gave it away. But, so what if she’s hiding things?
Whether she was keeping secrets from him or not didn’t automatically make her someone he no longer wanted to help. Lovel had told him of her past to the extent that she could share. That was enough for Cliff.
I’ll fight to protect her until the end. Cliff steeled his resolve and returned Lovel’s smile.