Terra

by Nona Mae King

  "Whether you pass the opportunity or not isn't the point! Will you follow-through with what you start?"

  Edgar sighed deep, lifting his arms in a helpless shrug. "I can only ask you to trust me."

  Locke hemmed and hawed, scratching the back of his neck and running a hand through his hair as he gauged Edgar's open expression. Finally, he swore. "I still don't like it, Edgar. She's just a kid."

  "A kid? Besides being stunningly beautiful, she's one of the most mature and responsible people in my acquaintance. How else could we have defeated that blasted lunatic Kefka? Her skills have saved our backsides plenty of times, and well you know it!"

  "She's still a kid, Edgar, one who hasn't the experience you've had. She doesn't know the best way to manipulate a person around their little finger." Locke jabbed Edgar in the chest with the pommel of his dagger hilt. "So you watch yourself. Carefully."

  ~~~

  It was Edgar's turn at the wheel, but due to a previous incident with a prior airship, Setzer wasn't too comfortable with the idea of letting him have that turn. So, Terra was left alone with Edgar for their entire trip to Zozo while Locke and Setzer went above to pilot the ship. Terra had to admit she didn't know whether the trip to Zozo would be too short or too long. There was something in Edgar's manner when he returned from Jidoor that made her wary. Then, when he commanded Locke and Setzer to take a turn at the wheel and conveniently leave the two alone . . . . Honestly, Terra hadn't known whether to be eager at the prospect of more time with Edgar, or terrified because of just how eager she was.

  "Are you sure traveling to Zozo is wise?" Edgar came to sit beside her. "You mentioned before he wouldn't set camp there for fear of losing his treasures."

  "I know." She sighed as she rubbed her face and neck, "but I've had a chance to think." Terra peeked at Edgar to catch him watching her. It was a little disconcerting. "Doesn't it make sense that someone there would be willing to give us information about his operation if we offered enough money? Surely if Setzer was able to discover a name we could do even better."

  Edgar stood, smiling as he moved to stand behind her. His hands gently massaged her shoulders. "That's why we always made you leader, Terra. Not only are you beautiful, but you are quite brilliant."

  Terra waved his comments aside, shifting her focus to the map of the newly formed world. "I just don't know," she said in an exasperated voice. "It's been too long, Edgar. I don't remember how to plan anything." His touch began to irritate and she stood, pulling away to stand by a window.

  "Terra." Edgar came to stand behind her. "Terra, you mustn't be so hard on yourself." He rested his hands on her shoulders again, but she shrugged them off and moved away. "You are pushing yourself too hard."

  "If I don't push myself, who will? I can't just breeze through this and expect none of them to get hurt. I have to think everything through and get it right."

  "Terra." He turned her to face him, but she kept her head lowered. "We are a team. No one expects you to solve this alone. All of us stand with you in this endeavor, as we always have."

  "You don't understand."

  "Then make me understand. I wish to help, Terra. Whatever it is. Whatever you are going through."

  Terra turned away. "It's my fault," she said in a choked voice. "If I had just taken them with me this wouldn't have happened."

  "There is no way you could know that with any certainty. You may have simply been taken along with them--"

  "There must have been a way, Edgar. A way to stop this! A way to know!" Guilt and pain heightened her pitch. "I left them alone so I could have some time by myself. Don't you understand? I . . . I left them. They look up to me for protection and I let them down. I walked away and let them get taken--"

  Edgar stepped forward to embrace her as the control broke. "Terra, you are not to blame. Not by any means. You deserve time alone as much as any of us do. Besides, you trust the older ones to watch the younger because of the responsibility they have learned from you. There was nothing wrong with trusting them further." Edgar pulled back and held her face in his hands. His thumbs caressed her tear-stained cheeks. "The fault was not yours--"

  "It is my fault," she insisted harshly. She pushed his hands from her face. "All I had to do was watch them because they had no one else, and I couldn't even do that! How can you stand there and say it isn't my fault? You don't know what you're talking about, Edgar! You . . . you don't know." She hid her face even as she felt the warmth of his arms surround her. Terra clung to him and sobbed.

  "I know more than you believe, Terra," Edgar said. "I understand you are afraid you shall lose the only people you have ever loved. I know that you are terrified the anger you feel building will take control."

  Terra wanted to believe him, but something held her back. Something dark. Something lurking in the back part of her mind. Something that scared her beyond all reason.

  "There now," he whispered as he stroked her hair. "It is all right to feel scared, Terra. Even I have suffered the same malady upon occasion. I acted such a fool during my first visit to you. Then there you were on my doorstep asking for help. I thanked my lucky stars."

  Terra looked up at him and reluctantly smiled. Her eyes glistened and her chin quivered. "Oh Edgar," she said as she wiped at her face. "Can't you be serious about anything?"

  He smirked and helped her dry her face with a silk kerchief he pulled from his pocket. "When I am holding a lovely creature in my arms? Don't be cruel." She shook her head with a reluctant laugh. "That's better. We cannot be having tears in a lady's eyes on an adventure such as this." He kissed the tear-dampened kerchief while she watched in surprise and tucked it carefully back into his satin vest pocket. "Now, give me your hand and let us have a laugh or two before tackling the problem again."

  She slipped her hand into his, and he brought it to his lips for a long moment before smiling down at her with a strange expression. Her heart thudded in her chest as she shifted her gaze away. He led her back to the table.

  "A laugh, Edgar?" she asked when she sat in the offered chair. "My kids are gone and I don't know where. How can I laugh? Too much time has been wasted already."

  He pulled a chair up directly opposite and once more took her hands into his. His grip felt comforting, ushering aside that 'something dark'. She clasped them tightly, feeling a surge of desperation to fully chase the oppression from her soul.

  "No, Terra. We have wasted nothing. I understand it seems we work too slow, but that serves to prove you care deeply for your children. Just as it keeps us pressing onward." Edgar's thumbs rhythmically touched and soothed away the trembles of her hands. "Let us laugh of old times, so that your heart will be more at ease."

  Terra's throat tightened and her eyes continued to hold the vision of their clasped hands. "I can't, Edgar. I . . . I feel that thing pulling and pressing at me again."

  "As you did at Mobliz?" Edgar's voice was as gentle and soothing as his touch, drawing Terra's soul further from its protection.

  "No. It's different. Darker." She finally raised her eyes to meet his. "Edgar. . . it scares me. It makes me think someone's watching, waiting for me to make a mistake so they can punish me."

  Edgar's caress on her hands ceased and the oppression reared, surging forward as her soul cringed away--the oppression vanished on the tail-end of a sudden ringing in her ears and Edgar's caress began again.

  "Perhaps it is you punishing yourself, Terra. Too long in the presence of the Empire and its demand for perfection has damaged and timidified your sensitive nature." His expression and smile were oddly compassionate as he released her right hand and, almost fondly, touched and held her chin. "Release your mind to work, Terra. Allow yourself to remember and press on. Ignore the harsh words and oppression and focus on the goal."

  And those eyes comforted her trembling soul, soothing a slight smile to her lips. "I'll try, Edgar."

  The intensity of his gaze grew as they held hers, and then he slowly leaned forward to touch her cheek
with his lips. "Well, my dear? Where shall we begin the search?"

  ~~~

  Locke glanced toward Setzer with a shake of his head. "I don't like it," he grumbled for the countless time. "I don't like it at all."

  Setzer smirked, his fingers busy with the fancy shuffling of his cards. "Leave them alone, Cole. Life is a lonely mistress. Those two deserve what they're getting."

  "She doesn't know Edgar like I do. The last thing she needs is him putting the moves on her and kissing her so she can barely think straight. She's just a kid." His hands gripped the wheel.

  "Terra is a woman and Edgar is a man."

  Locke scoffed. "Don't remind me."

  "I thought you wanted them to be married, Cole?"

  "He hasn't exactly put a ring on her finger, has he? I don't like putting the cart before the chocobo, okay?"

  "Do you truly doubt he will? Edgar is a man of honor, Cole. Don't trifle with that or you're liable to get your head cleaved in two. Besides," Setzer paused and palmed the Queen of Hearts, "I don't believe anything but a few passionate embraces are being shared. He respects her too much to rush her into more than that."

  "You don't know Edgar."

  Setzer stood. "Only Edgar knows Edgar. Trust your friends and leave it at that. I'm going below."

  "If you come back a little pink around the ears, I'll know you were wrong," Locke grumbled.

  The gambler chuckled despite himself. "It's nothing I haven't experienced myself," he tossed over his shoulder. "Besides, a little amusement would be just what I need right now."

  Locke glared after him.

  When Setzer made his way below, however, Edgar and Terra shared anything but a tender embrace. The two had gathered around the table examining maps and talking in low tones while pointing at different areas. Setzer smirked with a shake of his head. Terra didn't appear the least bit disheveled. Pity, he thought to himself. She's in need of some good lovemaking to make her a woman.

  Edgar looked up to greet Setzer with an easy smile. "I do believe we have solved the mystery."

  Setzer raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You two certainly have been busy." Terra didn't even flush a slight color of red. Hm.

  "Before this world of ruin there was a trade route from Nikeah to about here." She traced a line on the map. Then she pointed to a section where there was only polluted water. "The Imperial base was there but, as you can see, it doesn't exist in this world."

  Setzer leaned over the map with a nod. "Right. Shall we all observe a moment of silence for the loss?"

  "Hardly," Edgar scoffed. "But when Terra and I recalled you once said you believed slavers were responsible, we then remembered the fact the Empire once used slave labor in order to," he grimaced, "save money. Harvesting prime candidates for this less than glorious profession had become quite a problem in years gone by. Before Kefka turned our little world upside down, that is. People of all ages would disappear from their homes in the middle of the night and never be heard from again. Whole schools would disappear without a trace."

  Setzer noticed something strange about Terra's expression, but pushed it aside. "So, our Empire friends have indeed found a way to resume their charming way of life."

  "Perhaps not the Empire directly, but rather some of the leftover scum who wouldn't know better," Edgar said.

  Terra shifted her gaze from Edgar to Setzer with a nod. "Do you know anything about this Ledo character? Do you know if he's had anything to do with the Empire in the past?"

  Setzer sat in a chair across from her and leaned back to prop his feet up on the table. "Your typical Zozo slime. Arrogant. Ugly. Anything but charming, to say the least. A real piece of work. Money and power are that character's only real loves." A frown twisted the scar over his left eye.

  "Do you remember something?" Edgar asked.

  "It seems to me he threw a lot of money into that game. He lost it without flinching."

  Terra and Edgar exchanged a glance. "What does that mean to you, Setzer?" Terra asked.

  "It means that he had just been paid a lot of money. Not only that, he more than likely expected to be paid more. And soon."

  Terra took in a slow breath and stared down at the map. "I don't suppose he mentioned anything about it?"

  Setzer shook his head. "No."

  "Blast," Edgar said.

  Locke chose that moment to come in to the room. "You've got that right."

  "Zozo?" Edgar asked.

  "Zozo." Locke glowered. "I hate this place. Not only does it stink to the heavens, but all of them are the worst possible thieves."

  "I'm sure you could give them lessons," Setzer chuckled.

  Locke sent him a glare. "Ha, ha, ha. Very funny."

  "I suppose we should go," Terra said as she rolled up the map. She set it aside and slipped into her scabbard. "We've wasted enough time."

  Setzer stood and collected his razor edged cards and not-so-enchanted dice. "I'd like to think we've invested time, Terra. 'Wasted' is such a harsh word."

  Terra sent him a small smile, which he returned. Ah. The Terra we all know and love seems to have returned. Bravo, Edgar. Bravo.

  4: Pretty Vows and Grand Escapes

  It was raining.

  Terra's grip on the sword hilt tightened as the quartet entered the dark town of Zozo. She grimaced at the stench of rotting corpses. The last time had been so different. Drawn to the top of one of the buildings by Ramuh's power when transformed by the Esper Tritoch, she'd been so afraid of her seemingly limitless power. So terrified she would hurt someone without meaning to. It had been Zozo where Locke, Edgar, Sabin, and Celes found her. Zozo where all her friends discovered her terrible secret: she was only half human, her father an Esper.

  Terra led the group further into the city, pressing her lips together when she saw a pack of residents closing in. "Keep your eyes open," she warned. "It looks like we're going to have company."

  "Bring 'em on," Locke grumbled. "It'll give me a chance to work out some frustrations. Believe me, I've got a lot of frustrations."

  Setzer chuckled. "You always do when you're away from Celes for any longer than a day."

  Edgar gripped Locke's arm to prevent the impending fistfight. He immediately shot Setzer a hard look. "Gentlemen, this is neither the place nor the time. Our goal is to locate Terra's children, remember?"

  "Yeah, yeah. I know. Sorry, gambler."

  "It's quite all right."

  Locke looped his thumb on his belt. "So, where to next?"

  Terra shook her head. "I'm not sure. This place . . . this place--" She shook her head again, this time bringing a hand up to her forehead with a cringe and a moan. A spark seemed to have shot out from the very center of her brain. It caused yellow and white spots to flash in her eyes. "My head."

  Edgar stepped closer, gripping her arm to steady a sudden stumble. He tilted her chin up to examine her flushed face and glazed eyes. "Terra?" He felt her forehead and glanced sharply to Locke. "She's burning up."

  "What?" Locke strode forward, brushing the back of his hand across her forehead before pressing two fingers against her wrist. He shook his head. "Something spooky's going on, Edgar. We've got to get her back to the ship."

  Terra shook her head feebly as she tried to straighten. "No. No, we have to go on," she insisted.

  "Terra," Edgar said firmly. She locked gazes with him. "Terra, you are not going on. Setzer will take you back to the ship while Locke and I discover what we can."

  "We'll go on as a group, Edgar," she said, dropping her hand from Edgar's arm to straighten under her own power. The pain surged through her body, but she forced herself to ignore the burning agony even as it seemed to melt her brain. "A group of four in Zozo is bad enough. Two is a suicide mission." Her voice didn't even quiver.

  Edgar shook his head with a reluctant smile after a long pause. "Very well. We will stay together, but I only agree so I may keep an eye on you."

  Terra forced a smile.

  "You've had your eye on her for long enoug
h, don't you think? I'd say you need to get a little more physical than that."

  Edgar's ears flushed as he shot Setzer a warning glare, ignoring Locke's loud laugh which even had the Zozo residents looking amongst themselves in confusion. Edgar pulled a small bottle from a pouch on his belt and handed it to Terra. "Here," he said. "Take this. It may not take away all the pain--"

  "Edgar." Terra grimaced as she accepted the potion.

  "Do not deny that you are hurting. I believe it will help."

  "Thank you. I'll save it for later--"

  "No," Edgar pressed. "No, you will take it now. I have plenty more, as do Locke and Setzer."

  Terra removed the stopper and took in a deep breath, preparing herself for the super-sweet taste of the herbal potion as well as the bizarre effects that would linger for several moments afterward. With a last hesitation, she swallowed the thick greenish-blue liquid, coughing as she handed the glass bottle back to Edgar.

  The liquid slowly slid down her throat, causing her whole body to shiver as its healing effects tingled and warmed her insides. The burning in her brain receded a bit, making it easier for her to ignore, and the sparks that began to cascade through her body all but disappeared. She swallowed several times, desperately trying to clear the remaining sticky substance from her mouth as her limbs began to feel a little heavier than normal. The heaviness due of course to the effects of the potion. It would pass quickly.

  "Better?" Edgar asked.

  Terra gave him a small nod. "Better."

  "Good, because our company is getting closer," Locke warned.

  Terra carefully gauged the challenge. "Nothing to worry about."

  Setzer smirked and lightly fingered his deck of cards. "Well said, but a challenge nonetheless. We have, after all, been out of the fighting business for quite a while."

  There was a brief tingling at the base of Terra's skull followed by a pop in each ear that quickly faded. Terra cast Setzer a sidelong smile. "Come on, gambler, are you telling me you've forgotten how to use those cards of yours?" She slowly pulled her sword from its sheath and sent Edgar a wink. "Come on. Let's show them how it's done."