Terra

by Nona Mae King

  "A trap. Break the connection and a silent alarm sounds."

  "Does that mean we can't get in this way?"

  He shook his head to Celes' whispered question and made a sign at Interceptor who looked up, watched Shadow a moment, and then disappeared around the far side of the house.

  "Where's he going?" Locke asked.

  "He has a job to do. As for this simple trap, step over it. This is only for catching those who do not pay attention."

  Locke, Celes, and Sabin stepped over the red light without a problem and proceeded to wait as Shadow searched the remaining distance to the door before following.

  "Do you think Ledo knows we're here?" Locke asked.

  Shadow didn't answer. He traced the frame of the door with his fingers before tapping a section twice. He removed a dagger from a hidden sheath on the back of his neck and drove the blade into the center of the section. Then he cut a deep gash to the floor. The trio watched Shadow's ritual in amazement, and then they shook their heads when he opened the door and stepped inside.

  "What was that all about?" Locke asked.

  Again, Shadow didn't answer. Locke clenched his jaw and Celes placed a hand on his arm as Sabin passed them to follow Shadow. She sent Locke an understanding glance when his angry eyes focused on hers. He examined her face, nodded with a deep breath, and then followed Sabin as Shadow led them further into the house. A strange and soft humming unfamiliar to the group sounded somewhere in the house. Shadow put a hand out to stop their progress.

  They listened. After a moment more, Shadow knelt and began to lightly touch the floorboards beneath their feet. The trio was careful not to move. Just as he had on the door, he tapped a small area of the floor twice and inserted his dagger. This time, however, he left the dagger and stood to gesture to a far room. Locke, Celes, and Sabin followed him with hurried steps.

  Machines and crystals, glass tubes and strange lights were arranged around the room haphazardly. Wires spread snake-like throughout it all. Locke went to different areas and touched the machines with a shake of his head.

  "What is this stuff?" Sabin asked with a harsh whisper.

  "It's a laboratory," Celes whispered in amazement. "It's like the one I saw in Vector. Where people were. . . injected."

  Locke looked at her. "What?"

  "These are the same kinds of machines I saw when I escorted people to be injected with magic from an Esper. I'm positive--"

  "You are correct."

  The group turned sharply, weapons at the ready as they faced the owner of the voice. Dark evil eyes. Tall silhouette radiating power and blackness. Ledo.

  ~~~

  Setzer shuffled his cards as his eyes occasionally moved to the house. When he focused on a great black and brown beast running toward him, he palmed three cards.

  Interceptor paused with a raised eyebrow.

  "Sorry, my friend," Setzer said, smiling. He put the cards back in the deck. "No offense." The massive dog jogged the remaining way toward him and looked up at him expectantly. Setzer shook his head. "I'm working now. I can't follow you," If it was possible, Interceptor looked annoyed and gave a little growl. "I must wait for the signal and then--"

  Interceptor grabbed Setzer's leg in his strong jaws, ignoring the gambler's shout of surprise as he proceeded to pull him toward a house.

  "I should have known I wouldn't be rid of you so easily," Ledo said in a lazy voice. "Ah well. It doesn't matter whether it is later or now. You will be taken care of just the same."

  Celes pressed her lips together as she swiped the air with her sword. "I don't think so."

  "Ditto," Locke put in.

  "No doubt," Sabin agreed. "Is he crazy or something? Doesn't he know who we are?"

  Shadow stepped forward from behind Ledo, and the tall man turned to face him. "As you can see, demon, your power has come to an end."

  Ledo chuckled, arms tightly crossed. "So little you know of me and my power, Shadow. Even then your mind couldn't handle the truth."

  Ledo leaned toward Shadow with a condescending sneer, his hard eyes pitying as they focused on the ninja's. "How does it feel to know you're the reason she died?"

  A quietly building rage sparked from Shadow's veiled eyes as he held Ledo's gaze without a cringe. Locke and Celes exchanged a wary glance, taking up better positions on either side of the techno-mage while Sabin absently clenched and unclenched his fists.

  "You better not be talking about Terra, mister, or you're in a world of hurt," Sabin warned through clenched teeth.

  Ledo straightened with an air of boredom as his black eyes took in Locke, Celes, and Sabin. It even appeared that he restrained a yawn before refocusing his attention on Shadow. "These children you spend so much time with. . . I often wonder what you hope to accomplish by it." Silence. Ledo began to slowly pace, the sound of his footfalls echoing like hollow laughter. "I often wonder if you are hiding from your past, Shadow. After all, it would be so easy for you to--"

  "Be quiet, demon," Shadow snapped. "You've been the hell to my soul long enough. Your reign of terror has finished, and I will be your undoing."

  Ledo appeared genuinely amused. "Little Shadow," he chuckled. "Still you do not understand," The man turned and pushed a button. "Welcome to hell."

  A glass box came to life, and the group noticed an odd familiarity about it. Or rather, with the information displayed. There was a still picture of a young woman and then several graphs and meters that were strangely still. Another glass box displayed a single word.

  DANGER

  Locke hurried to the console as he sheathed his blades, ignoring Ledo who smiled silently on. The treasure-hunter examined the screen and then turned to Shadow with a pale face. "It's Terra. He's killing her."

  "How?" Sabin asked harshly. His eyes never left Ledo's face. "She's not even here!"

  Locke shook his head and turned back to the console with it's many displays and odd-shaped buttons. "I don't know," he growled. "I don't know!"

  "The Esper is mine, Shadow. If you wish her to die, remain. However it will have been you who killed--" Ledo turned in surprise, his eyes focusing on nothing. "You! What are you doing here?"

  Locke and Celes exchanged a glance before he hesitantly reached out to touch the dark figure. It flickered. "He's not here! Again!"

  Sabin examined Ledo's face. "Then wherever he is, someone is there with him--"

  "No," Ledo screamed; his hands raised in defense. The figure wavered and vanished. The group heard the tail end of a screech from somewhere outside the house.

  Shadow gestured at the console. "Save Terra. I will find Ledo."

  "What's left of him. I think Interceptor was pissed." Locke reluctantly smiled before he turned back to the console. The smile disappeared. "Blast! I hate this techno trash."

  Celes came to stand beside Locke as Shadow disappeared from the room. "I know, babe, but you're the only one besides Edgar who understands this."

  Locke looked over at Sabin. "You're his brother--"

  "Hey, don't look at me. I don't get this junk either. You're the brains of this crew."

  "I don't know jack about this techno--"

  "Locke," Celes turned him to face her and held his gaze. "Locke, I know you can do this."

  He let out a deep breath and nodded as he faced the console again. "All right, Lady Luck. Let's do this thing right," Locke examined the few instructional plaques, and then he flipped a few switches.

  "Well? What do you think?" Sabin asked the question hesitantly.

  "I think. . ." Locke's hand paused over an odd-colored switch highlighted by a flashing light. "I think it's this one."

  He pushed it.

  ~~~

  "Well, well. What do we have here?"

  Interceptor's grip around Ledo's throat tightened, and the mage tensed as he lay on the floor. When Interceptor had begun dragging Setzer to the small abandoned house on the opposite side of Jidoor, the gambler had been sure the beast had finally lost touch with reality. Then Setz
er had seen an odd assortment of wires snaking their way along the ground, hastily hidden under molded pieces of wood specifically designed to conceal them.

  Coincidences didn't happen to him.

  Picking the lock had been easy enough, thanks to Locke's good-natured tutelage, and then the mystery had been solved as soon as Interceptor had dashed through the gaping door into the technological wonderland to pin its owner to the ground with a death-like grip to the throat.

  "Patience, my friend," Setzer told the growling beast now. "He won't be much use to us dead."

  Interceptor grumbled his complaint, but relaxed his grip: barely. Ledo's gloved hands were held carefully away from the beast, and his eyes were wide with terror. Setzer chuckled and came to stand by the mage, examined his dark metal gloves, and promptly pulled them off. Several multi-colored wires from inside his armor connected the gloves to the mage, though. Setzer retrieved a card from his pocket, cut the wires, and tossed the gloves away. Ledo watched every motion with glazed eyes.

  "I must say you've been a cunning villain," Setzer remarked calmly. He propped one foot up on the seat of a chair and leaned his elbow on his knee as he stared down at the mage's white face. "But you do realize it's highly unlikely you'll leave here alive, of course. You see, Terra is a part of our family. A sister to some, friend to most, but most of all a woman of quiet passion and sincerity whom we all love in our own way."

  Ledo remained silent. Interceptor adjusted his hold.

  "Whether her Esper power is simply dormant and waiting to be released or lost forever, we don't care. We love her for who she is and not what she can or cannot do. It's too bad you don't understand this, for you could have saved yourself a lot of grief."

  Setzer gestured at the high-tech consoles, monitors, and miscellaneous objects with a barely lifted finger. "At first I wanted to know what you had in mind for our little woman, but you know, I don't really care anymore. I know you're slime and I know you'd do it again if we gave you half a chance. So tell you what. You tell me why Terra is acting so blasted crazy and how to fix it, and I'll persuade Shadow there not to kill you."

  Ledo's eyes strayed to the ninja who had just appeared in the doorway. The panic made his muscles quiver. Setzer glanced over at Shadow and watched his eyes. A war waged beneath the ninja's calm exterior, and Setzer knew there was no way for him to help. Shadow had chosen long ago to keep his past to himself. The group had guesses and half-solved clues, but nothing to prove that what they believed was true.

  "Any problem with calling off your dog," Setzer asked finally. Shadow only gestured. Interceptor reluctantly released Ledo's throat, resting a foot on it instead. Setzer smirked and withheld a laugh for the sake of seriousness. "There now, wasn't that sporting."

  Ledo's eyes switched to Setzer. "You are all fools--"

  "None of that," Setzer cut in. "I'd say we have the upper hand at the moment. Tell us what we want to know and we'll let you bow out," Setzer paused, his pale eyes taking in Shadow's expression. "Perhaps. The house is still out on that."

  Ledo's gaunt face hardened with hatred. "I shall tell you nothing."

  "I see." He glanced toward Shadow again and shrugged. "I guess he's all yours, Shadow." Setzer straightened and strode lazily toward the door. "You picked the wrong card, mage. Shadow is the card of death."

  Setzer left the room just as the screeches began.

  8: Marbles, Wagers, & Watchamacallits

  Cyan came below to find Terra fitfully sleeping as Edgar held her hands and watched her twisted face. The picture was anything but pleasant, bringing back many memories of his past love. Life had been hard in Doma, but Elayne and Owain had made it easier with their smiles and laughter. How would the young king of Figaro survive losing that which he held above all else? Would it break him? Would life cease to hold any importance?

  Edgar turned to face Cyan with a forced smile, tucking Terra's small hands under the coverlet before following Cyan to the outer hallway. "She's so weak," Edgar said quietly, his voice uneven. "I checked her ears while she slept and. . ."

  They made their way on deck. Cyan nodded, face grim. "No wound and yet so much blood. It does not bode well." Cyan's voice was forced calm. "Thou must prepare thy heart for the worst. Terra bleeds more than what is natural."

  Edgar nodded very slightly.

  Cyan scowled as his hand rested on the hilt of his katana. "This puzzles me greatly, for the bleeding continues though she shows no wounds. I have dressed her ears, yet I do not believe it has helped."

  "We can always hope, Cyan. I need that much, at least."

  Cyan nodded and stared down at the small village of Kohlingen. "Thou must bring her."

  Edgar nodded absently, heading back for her room as Cyan 'parked' the airship. Don't die, Terra. Not now. Not when I haven't told you how much I do love you. He needed a little more time, but he feared her time was over.

  ~~~

  "My, my," the alchemist crooned. Edgar carried Terra into his lower 'laboratory' and set her on the bed. "What have we here? A pigeon with no wings? A cloud with no wind?"

  Edgar wrestled with his patience. "She's bleeding--"

  "Yes, yes. I can see that," the alchemist laughed. "I'm not blind, you know. Just lost my marbles a while ago. If you find them - they're in a tidy little box - please let me have them in a hurry. My marbles, my marbles, tra-la-la. . ."

  Edgar clenched his jaw as the alchemist danced around the room with his arms uplifted, twirling in graceful pirouettes like a ballerina before calmly beginning to examine Terra's ears.

  "I'll need to take them out if you want her to live," the alchemist said suddenly. "Affects her brain, it does, and we can't have that. A brain is a horrible thing to control, don't you think? It must be free, not tied and shot."

  "What?"

  The alchemist pointed at Edgar. "Go on! Shoo! Shoo," he screeched.

  Edgar hurried from the room, meeting Cyan upstairs. "I had forgotten how crazy he was."

  "That he is, yet a gifted man of medicine of which Terra is in dire need."

  Edgar nodded and sat at a chair by a rickety old table. "I need to keep my mind off what happens below. Could you tell me what made you come to Zozo?"

  Cyan crossed his arms tightly and lowered his head. "Celes, Sabin, and I discovered numerous disquieting facts while pursuing the villainous creature, Ledo Grikea."

  "Why did you search for him in the first place? Locke said he sent Celes a note, but there was nothing including his name or location."

  "Celes, being the seasoned professional trained by the Empire that she is, wished to examine the origin of the heinous activities before setting out on our exploration of the area."

  "You went to Mobliz?"

  Cyan nodded grimly. "What we encountered there was unsettling due to the urgency with which Locke had written."

  "Cyan, what are you saying?"

  The seasoned fighter took in a deep breath before continuing. "The children were participating in a rousing game of hide-and-seek."

  "What?" Edgar's tone was sharp and disbelieving.

  "I do not lead thee astray with my narrative, Edgar. What I have said is truthful."

  "But. . . But Terra said they were gone. That she went to the garden and had come home to find them missing. She said that she heard a scream!"

  Cyan nodded along with the telling. "Such is so. Celes allowed us to read the note."

  "How can this be?"

  Silence settled over the room as Cyan clenched his jaw. After a moment's pause, he gestured to the chair across from Edgar. "Might I sit?"

  "Of course."

  Cyan made himself more comfortable before speaking. "Celes is quite knowledgeable with respect to the darker transactions of the Empire."

  "Meaning?"

  "Meaning she knew of their fascination with the domination of the human mind."

  "Domination of the--" Edgar cut off abruptly. "Mind control?"

  "It is as thou says. We believed their first advanceme
nt was the designing of the Slave Crown. Of course we all appreciate Terra's less than agreeable emotional response toward that contraption."

  "Most assuredly, but what do you mean 'we believed'. Are you saying that something had been developed beforehand?"

  "I am."

  "Mind control on a different level than the Slave Crown? What happened? What was it called? Who began the experiments? Talk, man!"

  Cyan took in a slow breath. "Of details Celes knows little, but she was certain of Terra's involvement in experimental surgeries and procedures done by a mysterious man said to be a wizard of an unknown magic. Superstitions, however, run deep and Celes set little store in what her counterparts had to say on the matter. After all, how could such abominations be true? Implanting tiny pieces of metal in the minds of 'loyal' Imperial soldiers? It was absurd. Until now, of course."

  Edgar clenched his hands into fists. "Are you saying they put. . .? They inserted foreign. . .?" Edgar couldn't find the words through his rage.

  "I am." Cyan rubbed at his moustache and shook his head. "Sadly, experiments such as these found little funding in Gestahl's Empire. The department was dismantled and forgotten."

  "But these were never removed."

  Cyan nodded. "I believe thee hath hit the point of the matter directly."

  "So now our crazy alchemist has to remove these things before they kill her."

  "It would appear so."

  "And these. . . These things they put in her had been reacting to Ledo's influence?"

  "Again, I have no proof, but it would seem that he had either stumbled upon this technology, or designed it himself."

  "Mind control," Edgar mumbled with a dark glare. "This takes the gil, Cyan. Even with the Empire being abolished for who knows how long, they still find a way of making our lives miserable."

  Cyan nodded somberly.

  "You've got that right, brother."

  Edgar looked up and with a start. "Sabin!"

  Edgar stood and hurried over to his brother, arm extended. They clasped arms in greeting while Setzer, Locke, and Celes filed into the room. Shadow was nowhere to be found.

  "Celes! What on earth are you doing with these brutes?" Edgar asked.

  She smiled and came to wrap him in a hug. "I came to help. You should know better than to ask a question like that." When she pulled back, she sent him an understanding smile. "We came as quickly as we could. How is she?"