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• your favorite stranger by RareBirdAlert

  Fandoms: Final Fantasy VI  

  • Mature
  • No Archive Warnings Apply
  • F/M
  • Work in Progress

  28 Jun 2026

  Tags

  • No Archive Warnings Apply
  • Celes Chere/Locke Cole
  • Celes Chere
  • Locke Cole
  • minor roles by other members of the Returners
  • Slow Burn
  • continuation of the very slow burn started in the first part of this series
  • Enemies to Friends to Lovers
  • still currently at the Enemies to Reluctant Allies stage of things but it's progressing
  • unreliable narration continues
  • some one-sided Celes/Terra

  Summary

  It's after the defense of the frozen esper, and Celes tells herself that the reason she's still here assisting the Returners is to help Terra. She doesn't consider herself one of them, even if she's being included in their plans. And she still doesn't have options outside of this, anyway. But there is one other familiar thread through all of this, and that is the man who rescued her: Locke.

  Series

  • Part 2 of Sword and Shield

  Language:

  English

  Words:

  2,185

  Chapters:

  1/?

  Kudos:

  2

  Bookmarks:

  1

  Hits:

  14

• the mortar holding your walls by RareBirdAlert

  Fandoms: Final Fantasy VI  

  • Mature
  • No Archive Warnings Apply
  • F/M
  • Complete Work

  20 Jun 2026

  Tags

  • No Archive Warnings Apply
  • Celes Chere/Locke Cole
  • Celes Chere
  • Locke Cole
  • Edgar Roni Figaro
  • Tina Branford | Terra Branford
  • Slow Burn
  • like the start of a very slow burn
  • Enemies to Friends to Lovers
  • eventually anyway -- right now it's more like enemies to reluctant allies
  • unreliable narrator because her point of view has been so skewed
  • a bit of a character study within the established plot beats
  • References to Canon-Typical Violence
  • Edgar and Terra aren't super major presences but they do get big roles in specific chapters
  • also there's a hint of Celes/Terra
  • part of an ongoing series

  Summary

  She was accused of treason and set to be executed, until an agent of the resistance freed her. Now he's trying to convince her to aid his cause by working against her former masters. Not like she has much choice, right?

  Celes struggles with her new reality, and tries to keep her rescuer as distant as possible, even as she's forced to cooperate with him, and even worse, rely on him.

  Series

  • Part 1 of Sword and Shield

  Language:

  English

  Words:

  15,449

  Chapters:

  7/7

  Comments:

  27

  Kudos:

  10

  Bookmarks:

  2

  Hits:

  130