Final Fantasy IV - Haunted Baron

Author's Note: It took me so long to write this chapter because I got painfully sick about halfway through the first week of November. I intended this part to be a sub-element of the final chapter, but it wound up growing into a full-fledged chapter of its own, which means there's still one more chapter left to go. Thank you to everyone who has read, rated and reviewed this fic, especially the anon here at AFF. I hope this continues to be to your liking!


"I don't know if I can protect you."

Four keys. Three doors. Edward stood at the first set, the metal of the keys clinking together as he shifted them in his hand. Proof of the danger behind this castle stood alongside him, ready to risk their draining humanity by facing King and Queen Harvey.

Edward's faery companion Wen Chi hovered over them, wings exuding enough light amid the main hall's darkness for the Damcyan king to find the proper key.

"We don't have many options, do we?" Lenna pointedly said. "I can't let this hunk stay silent forever, he needs to be able to say his wedding vows. I just hope I can find someone to help me tame my unruly hair. Right, dear?"

The effect of Mute on Abel would wear off with a bit of Echo Herb, yet truthfully, Edward didn't know what would happen to them. Thoughts crept into his mind of Lenna forever cursed to her Medusa state. A gentle reminder from Wen Chi stirred him onward toward the only recourse awaiting them. He set the key through the hole and turned.

The door creaked open. Red candlelight burned down the passage, as it split into a four-way path. The left and right sides normally allowed the royal guard to converse, ready to protect the throne room at a moment's notice. Edward advanced, casting a cautious eye to all sides when Wen Chi's tiny voice made him pause, ready his harp and glance aside at... nothing.

"Don't scare us like that!" Lenna said.

Wen Chi answered, "Sorry, I'm a little jumpy. With what the Queen said last time..."

Edward's pulse calmed. His concerns mirrored Wen Chi's: the 'four fiends' of Baron Castle. With a single teleport spell from Rosa, their small party could be surrounded by every ally he had subdued to get the keys. Even if he managed to turn them against each other, the notion of Edge, YingYi, Rydia and Cid succumbing to another mass-orgy together in his group's wake didn't settle well with his wishes. He pressed on ahead, allowing Lenna and Abel to keep watch as he opened the next door. A click. A push. He called back to them and stepped down the narrow corridor toward the throne room... when a percussive boom sounded from behind.

He spun to look. By some trigger or trick, the door locked back into place. Lenna and Abel's frenzied attempts to break through the metal entrance availed them little. Before Edward could move to unlock the door again, his faery drew his attention back toward the throne room.

"Watch out, something's not right about this one. She doesn't look like she belongs in this world at all," Wen Chi hinted.

Edward puzzled over who else might have fallen to the castle's dark influence. His answer came in the tainted aura around the one person he least expected.

Chestnut brown hair, like the misty yellow at the bottom of her skirt, rolled behind her. Her blue eyes sparkled like the night stars. Her ethereal body fog trailed as she floated toward the Damcyan king, showing off the detailed decoration of her ruined dress. Rips in the spectre's attire revealed her ravaged state, a surviving soul sent to wander the Blue Planet in her twisted, frightful glory. She was a mess, a leper, a banshee reborn to wail to the world over her loss of life and love.

She was beautiful.

"Oh, Anna!"

Edward gazed upon his Leshy love as she approached.

"Edward..." she called. "I've missed you so much."

"Why are you here?"

She smiled, coaxing him to complacency as she revealed, "The Spirit rejected me."

Her perfume. Wispy. Warm. The same special mix of his family that reminded of the Damcyan deserts, a mix he gifted to her before she died protecting him from the Red Wings. Only now did he notice the remnants of that attack on her, blood staining her dress as it dribbled from each arrow that pierced her breast. Her presence enlivened him.... and terrified him. His heart raced with love and dread, both emotions clashing within to weaken his resolve.

"That can't be true! When we last met, you said the Spirit called you to become a part of it again. Anna, I-"

"Shush," she wagged her finger. "The Spirit rejected me because I'm impure. I lied to you because I didn't want you to know my sacrifice for your life... and a few other dirty little secrets... meant I was doomed to wander for eternity."

None of it made sense. He wanted to question her, to understand the growing number of mysteries surrounding her appearance... yet his one true concern subdued all others.

Anna was 'alive'. She floated before his eyes, a fallen angel, the love of his life in her rawest form. Her heart lay bare to him, a wicked shade shown for who she was by her mere presence on this plane. And still beautiful. Oh so beautiful. Wen Chi's warnings became paltry next to the beauty of Anna's words.

Anna explained, "The dark crystal allows me to travel where I want. I'm not forced to wander anymore. I can stay by your side as your phantom queen."

"My phantom queen?"

She grinned, "Yes. I told you once to share your love with the world. The power of Cecil and Rosa's love allowed me to return to you. Now we can spread the power of our own love across the deserts of Damcyan and Kaipo. We can be together forever."

"Anna..."

His fledgling resistance, the little man in the back of his head, shrank at the possibilities. They could sit on the throne together, king and queen. Their love could lead a nation. A people. Allied to the dark King and Queen of Baron, Damcyan could rebuild itself beyond anything his ancestors knew.

He shuddered at her gentle, ghostly hand against his chest. He reached, his own fingers moving to stroke her hair and failing as they passed clear through. His ghost-bride's special gifts in her current state extended into new, exciting venues unknown between them as his orange pants slipped down his legs.

"Master," Wen Chi unwittingly called him, "can't you see what's happening?"

"Quiet, tiny sprite. I might allow you to become a servant of our royal bedchamber if you behave." Anna batted her eyelashes to Edward as she glanced downward, gripping upon his curious endowment. It rose to her touch. "Our union deserves a special kind of kiss to seal our bond, don't you agree my love?"

"I..." he resisted. "I can't. This is too much."

Fog issued anew from the hem of Anna's yellow dress. Its strange scent filled his nostrils, regret washing over him as he saw the trembling darkness in his dead lover's eyes. Her response sent rippling chills down his spine.

"You always were a coward, Edward. It's easy to see how you would bring that to the bedchamber without a strong presence to guide you."

"Anna!"

"Don't feel so offended. I love you for who you are. I love you because...," she leaned closer. With a cool lick to his inner ear, she whispered, "...I'm a coward too."

As she backed away, Edward stared at her wicked grin. A secret wrapped around a secret, the creased edges of Anna's lips showed her private pleasure at admitting her most shameful fault. Silenced by fear, he listened as the ghoul bestowed such claims upon him.

"Are you surprised? Shocked? Deep inside, you knew what I was, just as I could sense what you were from the day we met. Goblins are drawn to goblins, dogs to dogs, and cowards to cowards. You were the first man I met to show more fear than me, and that's what I loved most about you. I could wet myself in terror and still look more courageous."

"Leave the king alone!" Wen Chi demanded.

"You again! Have you not learned your place? Very well. Allow me to show you the world through the eyes of a coward."

Anna snatched Wen Chi in her hands. A lift of her dress brought a cloud of fog, her hiked-up skirt allowing for the sight of its true source on her ghostly form. It seeped freely from her loins, waving and wafting on a spiritual wind as it coiled above her head. No escape. The sylph's wings fluttered failingly, her struggle undone by the strength of the ghost's digits. Anna flashed a wide, dark smile at Wen Chi's coughs as she plunged the faery between the lips of her sex.

"My entire body is a vessel for fear, Edward," she explained. "All my cowardice shows to the world as yellow fog, able to make any living creature cry and despair at a single whiff. I have you to thank for my current state, my love."

"Me?" he asked.

Between groans, Anna spoke to Edward of wounds once healed. "My father wouldn't consent to our marriage because he knew the effect you had on me. He wanted to raise a brave, strong woman who could protect herself, or at least see her find a man who could take care of her when she couldn't even take care of herself."

Her eyes closed, a breathy sigh brushing cool against Edward's cheeks. Each moan and head jerk came out stronger than the last, Wen Chi's frantic need to get away from the menace of the ghost's loins reflected in the strength of Anna's convulsions.

"Oooooh, your little assistant is feisty," Anna wailed. "That won't last for long."

"I couldn't protect you," Edward said.

"Worse, you inspired me to run away from my problems like a true wuss," Anna grinned. "I wonder what he thought when he found out he raised a daughter so pathetic that she would rather skulk away to get married than confront him."

"We're both cowards..."

Her eyes sparkled as they opened to gaze upon Edward. Her body calmed. Her fog thinned, the sylph silhouette between her legs going limp. Wen Chi's conversion was complete, and like any work of mastery, it deserved an audience.

"That's right. And now, so is your little faery. Would you like to see what my body has done to her?"

Removing the sprite, she allowed her skirt to drop and opened her hand. In her palm, Wen Chi lay quivering in such terror that she huddled with her knees to her chest, eyes clamped tight. Anna smirked at the formerly meddlesome assistant as she boomed, "Look at me!"

Wen Chi obeyed. "Y-Y-Yes?"

"You can call me mistress from this moment onward," Anna ordered. "The king and I must speak in private. I order you to pleasure yourself in that corner until I call on you."

"Yes mistress."

She rose and fell with the rapid beat of her wings. Anna's influence coaxed misdirection in her otherwise stable flight. Her first sharp turn smacked her into the nearest wall. In the next burst, she bashed into the stony ceiling. Hovering, she rubbed her aching head.

"Ow..."

"Did I give you permission to stop?" Anna said.

"Ah! I'll be there right away!"

The vague notion of displeasing Anna urged her to the corner. Stopping short of the wall, Wen Chi spun around. One hand snuck under her long skirt, while the other dove into the dress' loose chest fabric to tweak a tiny nipple of her flat chest. Her first surge of arousal weakened her wings, the dip downward regained as Anna's ownership of her crept back into her thoughts.

"Is this okay?"

"Yes. Remain aloft as you pleasure yourself."

Her eyes bulged. "B-but mistress, I don't think my body can handle the strain!"

"Do not test my mercy, sylph. I have yet to show you the full strength of my cowardice."

Wen Chi bit her lip. A pang lit from the crown of her head to her loins, twinged with an awkward fear-induced lust. The need to obey came over her, but more than that, she needed comfort from the terror in her heart... the comfort of pleasure. The warmth of arousal at a finger-thrust replaced the chill of fear, waning until she repeated the act. Pixie dust sprinkled from her nether lips, lavishing her body with self-love.

Rid of Wen Chi's interference, Anna returned her affections to Edward. Her fog gushed thicker as she scanned him head to toe, at last homing in on the most precious gift he had to offer her. Dropping to a squat, she peered up to him with a flirty toss of her hair and set his harp aside. A teasing lick to the bulb of his manhood left him open to her power, as she forced his hands to her bare shoulders.

"Edward. My dear Edward. Do you love me... or fear me?"

He knew what he wanted to say, and what her eyes demanded of him. His heart saw the woman he knew a year ago, the sole lady in all the world to gain his deepest love. His mind saw the spectre, the ghoul, the shambling monstrosity from the dead whose rage at a single utterance of dismissal to this act would lead to a life forever haunted by his dead lover. Scenes flashed to him of the destruction she could cause, from brutal deaths in Damcyan castle to her forcing this same act upon him in secret during royal meetings. He told her what she wanted to hear from his lips: the truth.

"Both."

"There's the Edward I know and love," she smirked. "Stand still while I give you the first of many ghostly pleasures."

"Yes, Anna," Edward said.

Her tongue... her spectral tongue. It plagued him with such tender mercies, unchallenged by any luxuries presented by his harp or the festive people of Troia. The upward stroke to his member's underside. The gentle massage of his scrotum. He knew her remarkable skill at this oral treat should have granted cause for alarm, rather than the praise and adoration he felt for such perfection. He looked down the moment she paused, the icy blue of her eyes at odds with the glowing warmth of her grin as yellow vapor trailed at her feet.

"Mmm. Edward," she said. "No other man could match your glory, not even Lord Edge himself."

His heart churned, unsettled as Anna's remarks sparked the memory of her old nature. He shivered at her chilly touch against the base of his groin, her hands cupping him in support. His resolve faltered as his thoughts flashed between past and present.

The sweet, tearful words she gave the day she died in his arms clashed with the sultry rhythm of her bobs. Her mouth plunged deep at each stroke. As her arousal grew, so did the yellow mist from her nostrils. It pooled out cold, spectral air gently whipping through the bard's tuft of pubes.

Which made it harder for Edward to refrain. His allies fell further from grace the longer he indulged, each remade into vile beasts eager to corrupt the Blue Planet. It took all of his inner strength to speak.

"We must stop at once. I don't think I can-"

He gasped as his hips thrust forth. His length, his girth, it spasmed from Anna's oddly skilled tongue. And then it happened. The first dry pump fed into the next two, until at last his seed burst free from the tip. It phased through at first, splashing to the stone floor between Anna's legs until she better composed her body. A splatter to the back of her mouth dripped down her throat. A second load coated her lips, an audible smack of them by the spectre's choice teasing the use of Edward's seed as some form of lipstick. By careful movement, she made him coat her brown hair with white highlights. She let it drip into her phantom blood, her lover's seed transformed into her choice of fashionable attire.

She stood grinning, presenting herself to Edward in cum-caked glory.

"That wasn't so hard, was it my love?" Anna asked.

"Anna..."

She again sampled his seed with a lick of her lips. "Mmm, I can taste your fear in every drop. Oooooooh, such delicious fear you harbor for me inside that frail heart, it's nearly enough to make me orgasm. My power will grow tenfold with you to satisfy my hunger."

"Your hunger?"

"Yes, I live off fear. It warms me... mmm, and sustains me. It fills the void left in my soul when I release my own through this terrible fog. Speaking of voids, I can think of another one that needs to be filled."

With a loud rip, her dress split down the front. Her hardy nipples jutted toward Edward, as her modest bosom sagged. Unhindered by her garments, her blood trickled down her midriff, disappearing in the thinned yellow cloud around her mons. She beckoned by craning her finger, her face lit up with a coy smile. "Come, Edward. You helped me aspire toward cowardice, now drink in the flavor of what you made me."

He fell to his knees before the offer. So much fear, it wafted to him, perfumed with so many memories of their life before her tragic death. He leaned toward her, tongue extended as he breached her-

"SPOONY BARD!"

"OW! Ow ow ow!" Edward scrambled back, spinning around as the rod continued to thwack him on the head. The moment he turned, his jaw dropped at the shocking arrival of...

"Tellah?" Edward stared. The great sage Tellah floated like Anna, with one distinct difference: he showed no mist. The purple of his robes shone, augmented by his spiritual essence. It came out brightest through his purple-lensed glasses.

With his hands to his hips, Tellah admonished the bard. "How dare you fall for the dark crystal's treachery. Can you not see the truth?"

"I-"

"No excuses! You knew the dark crystal would defend itself by preying upon you where weakest. It is your fault that it pulled Anna from The Spirit and tainted her courageous soul into that of a whimpering coward. I expected better from the man my daughter loved."

"Father!" Anna cried.

"And you, young lady!" Tellah floated to her. "You're the daughter of the Blue Planet's greatest sage. I taught you to resist corrupting influences such as the dark crystal. Show me you remember your training."

Yellow fog consumed father and daughter at Tellah's reprimand. It flourished, spreading out low along the stone floor. Every trace of the fear corrupting Anna's heart flooded out from its source, drawn out like poison by Tellah's presence. Within moments, the ball of fog thinned away, blue light peeking out until at last Anna alone revealed herself in her original flawless beauty. Her hair fell over her shoulders. Her dress shifted with her feet. Her brow wrinkled with love and concern as she looked on Edward, pressing a hand to her chest.

"Edward..."

"Anna!" He rushed to her, wrapping her into a tight hug. His heart pounded, his hope renewed as her perfume brought back much fonder memories of their days together. He could hear Wen Chi's wings flutter behind him, and as Anna broke from his embrace, he looked upon her fondly.

"You must stop the dark crystal," Anna said. "It cannot be allowed to shine its light upon creation. Even The Spirit can fall to its power."

"Anna, I'm... I'm nothing but a coward. I don't think I have the strength to face Cecil and Rosa."

"You are far from a coward, Edward. Few men would brave the Antlion's Den, or risk their lives to defend Fabul from the Red Wings. You alone have the power and courage to put an end to this evil."

He bowed his head, raising his pants back upon his hips. As Wen Chi took a single key from his belt, he said, "I made you run away from your home. I couldn't protect you. I can't-"

"That's enough. You showed me the beauty of life in ways I never knew before we met. I would gladly give my life again for you to share that love with the world."

"Anna..."

CLICK!

With a heavy turn of the lock, the hall's first door burst open with the full force of Lenna and Abel's entrance. Wen Chi scrambled back as one of Lenna's hair-snakes snapped for her.

"Hey! Watch it!" the sylph proclaimed.

"We're in!" Lenna said. Her jaw dropped, as her eyes fell on Anna. "Is that a... a..."

Anna nodded. "Yes, I am an apparition."

"Eek! Stay back!"

Edward returned his gaze to Anna. Even as a spectre, her grace and beauty reflected that of a perfect queen. She floated pristine, an ethereal lady in the fullest sense of the word. None but the most righteous of nobles could match her, her good heart pouring out in the purest of crystal blue light. He knelt to her, taking her hand in his as he pleaded.

"I've missed you so much. Please, stay with me. I need you."

"Edward..." she frowned. "I must rejoin The Spirit. We will be together again one day, but you need to stop the dark crystal. Be careful, my love."

He watched on as she faded, the love of his life, his greatest muse. Her light dimmed in the hallway, her serene face replaced by the creeping darkness barely at bay with the red candlelight. He grabbed his harp, rose and looked to his allies.

"For the sake of the Blue Planet."