Genesis (FFVI, Kefka/Leo, Tabula Rasa)
Theme: Tabula Rasa
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI
Title: Genesis
Pairings/Characters: Kefka Palazzo/Leo Christophe.
Disclaimer: Not mine at all. They’re Squeenix’. I just borrow them.
Summary: There's something inherently irresistible about a blank slate.
If he was prone to regrets, Kefka might have had a few about not attending the meetings the Emperor had requested him to attend. Not so much out of anything resembling guilt, it was mainly the fact that it had negative consequences for him that was actually getting to him.
He was the Emperor's right hand, and could pretty much do as he pleased, as there was only one person who outranked him in the whole empire. But his recent habit of not attending his job had gotten the Emperor himself rather annoyed with him, which would have caused his regrets if he was actually able to have them.
In order to somehow both punish Kefka for his insubordination and to get work done, the Emperor had assigned Kefka to go on a mission for him, and for a few random soldiers to go along as support forces. The soldiers were mainly there for the look of it; most of the other nations were too afraid of the Imperial Magitek Forces to actually do anything to bring the wrath of the Empire down on them. However, as the only functional magic user of the Empire, Kefka did have great value to the Empire, and the Emperor didn't want to risk anything happening to him.
In order to prevent this, he'd assigned one of the most promising young officers he could find in the army to go along with Kefka on the mission. The fact that Kefka was bound to be rather annoyed with being “babysat” was just an added bonus, especially if it led to Kefka actually doing his work from now on.
Mostly, Kefka was exactly what the Emperor needed him to be. He was ruthless and took delight in wrecking havoc on the Empire's enemies. When it came to magic, he was unbeatable. Even Terra, who was born with the ability, had nothing on the sheer magical power Kefka had at his command. And though he was smaller and more delicate in build than the average soldier, he was well trained.
However, there was a few flaws in the project to create a perfect second in command. Mainly the fact that Kefka's personality was highly unstable, and he had a distinct aversion to do anything he didn't feel like was interesting enough. Largely, this affected his work with things like paperwork and diplomacy.
This also extended to showing up at meetings and similar, something Kefka only did if he absolutely no choice in the matter. Otherwise, he'd suddenly go “missing” whenever there was a meeting of some sort held, and nobody would be able to find him. For a man who was as eye-catching as Kefka, he was surprisingly good at sneaking around.
The Emperor had picked an officer whose personality was pretty much the opposite of Kefka's for the mission, figuring they'd complement each other, making the mission easier to complete. While he'd given the young lieutenant a long speech about missions and honour to make him want to go, he'd never even bothered to try hiding the fact that having to drag the other man around was meant as a punishment for Kefka, hoping it'd make him think twice before failing to do his job properly the next time.
The tactic had largely failed, though.
Because as much as Kefka found Lieutenant Christophe fairly annoying as a babysitter, he was also rather fascinated by the younger man. There was something about the lieutenant's rigid code of honour and righteousness that kept catching his attention.
Kefka was very easily bored, and the people he saw every day were all the same; power-hungry nobility playing their little games and believing themselves to be above all others. He'd grown up among people like that, and he knew them so well. They held no interest to him any more, which was why he had gotten the habit of not going to the meetings he should have gone to. The same old stories repeating endlessly. There was a rumour going around that Kefka could read minds, which was a definite untruthful story, and the men that made up the important part of the Empire were the sort of persons who made him very glad that rumour wasn't true. He was already entertaining thoughts about poisoning their wine next meeting, if he had to actually listen to their thoughts, he'd definitely have them all killed. They still had the enormous steam chambers they'd used before the Magitek had been properly configurated, and the doors to those had an unfortunate habit of slamming close while people were in there.
Christophe wasn't like that, though. Maybe because he wasn't nobility. Whatever the cause was, he was so very different from any of the people Kefka knew.
There weren't a lot of good people in the Empire. Dr. Marguez wanted to call himself good, but he was too devoted to his studies, too willing to sacrifice people's well-being for his work. Christophe, though, was a genuinely good man. Good, honourable and oh so upstanding.
It made Kefka want to break him apart to see what he was made up from, to see if he could figure out just why Christophe managed to stay a good man when everyone else around him were so corrupted. He didn't think the lieutenant would last that long. The Empire was a cesspool of corruption and hunger for power. Kefka felt right at home there, as if though it was his natural element, but for someone who actually had a genuine good nature, it was bound to end badly.
Upholding a righteous nature in a thoroughly corrupted Empire was incredibly hard. Drowning in the attempt was so very easy.
And Kefka really wanted to be the one that pushed Christophe under. There was just something irresistible about the very idea of it.
Kefka had a decided attraction to blankness. The sight of a blank page or sheet seemed to him to beg for lines of ink and pencil to cover it, creating patterns, sketches, letters, all covering as much of the blank space as possible.
Lieutenant Christophe was just that. A blank slate. Not only blank to the ways of court intrigues and diplomatic mind-games, but blank to Kefka, as well.
And there was just something about how the lieutenant carefully refrained from any reactions to Kefka's looks what so ever, trying so hard to be a professional in the face of someone who outranked him both in the military and in the social hierarchy of the Empire. Something about the way he'd occasionally slip up, but would immediately cover his tracks. Something about how he would look rather bothered when he was addressed by his title, as though he preferred something less stiff but had to stick to protocol.
It made Kefka want to use that blank slate he had been given and use it to make Lieutenant Leo Christophe all his. Not just because he was an attractive man, though he was, but mainly, just because he could. And because the lieutenant would be a handy man to have as his, too, being such a good swordsman. Kefka wasn't more arrogant than that he was aware of where his shortcomings lay. Having a pet lieutenant, who would make general some day even without Kefka's meddling, would help him a lot. The fact that Lieutenant Christophe was a rather handsome man was just a nice bonus.
Idealists were so very easily manipulated. Especially the blank slates. They needed so little to get all worked up.
Kefka didn't much care for fond emotions. They tended to get in the way of ambition, and he had no need for such things. In his own way, he was fond of Terra. She was his favourite doll, the prize of his collection. After all, not many people could say they had a living, breathing puppet. Certainly not one as obedient and sweet as his Terra. She was easily his most treasured thing. Other than that, he'd never really seen a use for emotions.
Except of course to manipulate others.
And for all that Terra was a sweet, obedient little doll, she posed absolutely no challenge what so ever. The lieutenant was a new, exciting challenge, ripe for the taking and wonderfully unaware.
That was the best part about blank slates, Kefka thought to himself. You got to fill them in with whatever you wanted. Mould them into whatever you needed.
Kefka was looking forwards to reassemble Leo to be exactly what he wanted him to be.
Notes: I know I'm a little late on this one. I apologize profoundly and blame jetlag.
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI
Title: Genesis
Pairings/Characters: Kefka Palazzo/Leo Christophe.
Disclaimer: Not mine at all. They’re Squeenix’. I just borrow them.
Summary: There's something inherently irresistible about a blank slate.
If he was prone to regrets, Kefka might have had a few about not attending the meetings the Emperor had requested him to attend. Not so much out of anything resembling guilt, it was mainly the fact that it had negative consequences for him that was actually getting to him.
He was the Emperor's right hand, and could pretty much do as he pleased, as there was only one person who outranked him in the whole empire. But his recent habit of not attending his job had gotten the Emperor himself rather annoyed with him, which would have caused his regrets if he was actually able to have them.
In order to somehow both punish Kefka for his insubordination and to get work done, the Emperor had assigned Kefka to go on a mission for him, and for a few random soldiers to go along as support forces. The soldiers were mainly there for the look of it; most of the other nations were too afraid of the Imperial Magitek Forces to actually do anything to bring the wrath of the Empire down on them. However, as the only functional magic user of the Empire, Kefka did have great value to the Empire, and the Emperor didn't want to risk anything happening to him.
In order to prevent this, he'd assigned one of the most promising young officers he could find in the army to go along with Kefka on the mission. The fact that Kefka was bound to be rather annoyed with being “babysat” was just an added bonus, especially if it led to Kefka actually doing his work from now on.
Mostly, Kefka was exactly what the Emperor needed him to be. He was ruthless and took delight in wrecking havoc on the Empire's enemies. When it came to magic, he was unbeatable. Even Terra, who was born with the ability, had nothing on the sheer magical power Kefka had at his command. And though he was smaller and more delicate in build than the average soldier, he was well trained.
However, there was a few flaws in the project to create a perfect second in command. Mainly the fact that Kefka's personality was highly unstable, and he had a distinct aversion to do anything he didn't feel like was interesting enough. Largely, this affected his work with things like paperwork and diplomacy.
This also extended to showing up at meetings and similar, something Kefka only did if he absolutely no choice in the matter. Otherwise, he'd suddenly go “missing” whenever there was a meeting of some sort held, and nobody would be able to find him. For a man who was as eye-catching as Kefka, he was surprisingly good at sneaking around.
The Emperor had picked an officer whose personality was pretty much the opposite of Kefka's for the mission, figuring they'd complement each other, making the mission easier to complete. While he'd given the young lieutenant a long speech about missions and honour to make him want to go, he'd never even bothered to try hiding the fact that having to drag the other man around was meant as a punishment for Kefka, hoping it'd make him think twice before failing to do his job properly the next time.
The tactic had largely failed, though.
Because as much as Kefka found Lieutenant Christophe fairly annoying as a babysitter, he was also rather fascinated by the younger man. There was something about the lieutenant's rigid code of honour and righteousness that kept catching his attention.
Kefka was very easily bored, and the people he saw every day were all the same; power-hungry nobility playing their little games and believing themselves to be above all others. He'd grown up among people like that, and he knew them so well. They held no interest to him any more, which was why he had gotten the habit of not going to the meetings he should have gone to. The same old stories repeating endlessly. There was a rumour going around that Kefka could read minds, which was a definite untruthful story, and the men that made up the important part of the Empire were the sort of persons who made him very glad that rumour wasn't true. He was already entertaining thoughts about poisoning their wine next meeting, if he had to actually listen to their thoughts, he'd definitely have them all killed. They still had the enormous steam chambers they'd used before the Magitek had been properly configurated, and the doors to those had an unfortunate habit of slamming close while people were in there.
Christophe wasn't like that, though. Maybe because he wasn't nobility. Whatever the cause was, he was so very different from any of the people Kefka knew.
There weren't a lot of good people in the Empire. Dr. Marguez wanted to call himself good, but he was too devoted to his studies, too willing to sacrifice people's well-being for his work. Christophe, though, was a genuinely good man. Good, honourable and oh so upstanding.
It made Kefka want to break him apart to see what he was made up from, to see if he could figure out just why Christophe managed to stay a good man when everyone else around him were so corrupted. He didn't think the lieutenant would last that long. The Empire was a cesspool of corruption and hunger for power. Kefka felt right at home there, as if though it was his natural element, but for someone who actually had a genuine good nature, it was bound to end badly.
Upholding a righteous nature in a thoroughly corrupted Empire was incredibly hard. Drowning in the attempt was so very easy.
And Kefka really wanted to be the one that pushed Christophe under. There was just something irresistible about the very idea of it.
Kefka had a decided attraction to blankness. The sight of a blank page or sheet seemed to him to beg for lines of ink and pencil to cover it, creating patterns, sketches, letters, all covering as much of the blank space as possible.
Lieutenant Christophe was just that. A blank slate. Not only blank to the ways of court intrigues and diplomatic mind-games, but blank to Kefka, as well.
And there was just something about how the lieutenant carefully refrained from any reactions to Kefka's looks what so ever, trying so hard to be a professional in the face of someone who outranked him both in the military and in the social hierarchy of the Empire. Something about the way he'd occasionally slip up, but would immediately cover his tracks. Something about how he would look rather bothered when he was addressed by his title, as though he preferred something less stiff but had to stick to protocol.
It made Kefka want to use that blank slate he had been given and use it to make Lieutenant Leo Christophe all his. Not just because he was an attractive man, though he was, but mainly, just because he could. And because the lieutenant would be a handy man to have as his, too, being such a good swordsman. Kefka wasn't more arrogant than that he was aware of where his shortcomings lay. Having a pet lieutenant, who would make general some day even without Kefka's meddling, would help him a lot. The fact that Lieutenant Christophe was a rather handsome man was just a nice bonus.
Idealists were so very easily manipulated. Especially the blank slates. They needed so little to get all worked up.
Kefka didn't much care for fond emotions. They tended to get in the way of ambition, and he had no need for such things. In his own way, he was fond of Terra. She was his favourite doll, the prize of his collection. After all, not many people could say they had a living, breathing puppet. Certainly not one as obedient and sweet as his Terra. She was easily his most treasured thing. Other than that, he'd never really seen a use for emotions.
Except of course to manipulate others.
And for all that Terra was a sweet, obedient little doll, she posed absolutely no challenge what so ever. The lieutenant was a new, exciting challenge, ripe for the taking and wonderfully unaware.
That was the best part about blank slates, Kefka thought to himself. You got to fill them in with whatever you wanted. Mould them into whatever you needed.
Kefka was looking forwards to reassemble Leo to be exactly what he wanted him to be.
Notes: I know I'm a little late on this one. I apologize profoundly and blame jetlag.