Celes stood at Locke's grave. Could this be the end? He had protected her for so long... he even died doing so...
"Why are you helping me?"
"You remind me of someone..."
"Locke... let me protect you for once..."
Locke... was there a way to bring him back? Celes thought carefully. Magic was gone. There was no more Fenix Down. Not that it would help, she decided regrettably. Locke was not wounded, he was dead.
The battle in which Locke died was a short one. Celes was ambushed by ...something... She was at its mercy until Locke arrived. Locke was easy prey to the monster, which held Celes hostage. When Locke fell, Celes destroyed the monster in a rage. However, it was too late.
Celes kept returning to the battle in her mind. What was the monster? It wasn't anything she had seen before... unless...
Unless it was an Esper.
Celes knew it couldn't be true; all of them were gone. Slowly, she returned to the Falcon, which she noticed was vacant. She wandered through its corridors, thinking back to the time she was at the Opera House.
She wandered into the room where she was held captive by Setzer. Peering down into the machinery, she noticed a gem. It was deeply cracked, she noticed. Leaning down, she pulled on it until it came out of the gears. Examining it closely, she noticed something...
She was holding the magicite Phoenix.