I have read several stories involving Kefka raising Terra, and I always found them to be really interesting, and so I began writing a version of my own, only to find out all kinds of new info on Kefka's backstory in the FFVI Ultimania. Apparently, he didn't go crazy until he was 32, and this got me thinking. In my original version of this story, Kefka is insane the entire time Terra knows him, but I thought it would be far more interesting if he was nicer at first and goes insane later because it would make for a better story if Terra loses someone she once cared about rather than someone who's horrid since the day they met.

Anyway, before we get started, the characters, locations, etc. in this story are property of the wonderful Squeenix, who I wish still made games as awesome as they did 20 years ago.

Things Forgotten

Chapter 1: The Lab

Terra began her life, or at least, what she could remember of it, somewhere cold. It was cold in many ways, but the temperature she could learn to live with. There were needles and long, flexible tubes filled with various liquids, and they said they were only doing these things because she was special, but if that was true, why did they have to do things to her that hurt and made her feel sick?

She spent the early years of her life this way, either undergoing the tests she didn't know the purpose of or kept in a cell with little else but a cot and a stuffed chocobo doll for company. They said it was for her own safety, so she couldn't leave the lab and get lost, but she thought it might also be because things would sometimes catch on fire when she was around. They said she was the one doing it, because she was capable of magic, but how could she be doing something when she didn't even mean to?

Eventually, these tests began on other people, as well, tests they said were supposed to make them capable of magic just as she was. By now, she had learned to better control her magic, only using it when the scientists told her to, and Dr. Cid began to let her out of her cell, leaving the door unlocked so she could come and go as she pleased, just so long as she never left the lab, not that she had any reason to. As much as she disliked it here, she had her doubts the world outside would be any better. He even let her stay in his office during the day, and she spent far more time in there than anywhere else because it was much more comfortable than her cell and the lighting was better and his chair wasn't as hard as her cot.

But, sometimes she would grow curious and wander out into the hallway to watch the people they brought in. Many of them were scared, and she couldn't blame them. Not only did they have to have the needles and the tubes put in their skin, but they were also hooked up to a new device she had never seen before. Just the size of it and the green liquid she could see through the glass windows in its surface sent her heart pounding in her chest. But, the worst part of all was the screaming. She couldn't watch anymore once the screaming started, and she'd run into Dr. Cid's office and hide in the corner, but no matter how hard she pressed her hands to her ears, she could never completely keep out the sound.

Countless people came into the lab to be tested on and held in cells like hers when the tests were over. Dr. Cid said it was so that he and the other scientists could keep an eye on them and record any side effects the people might have, but she didn't know what those side effects were. All she did know was that, eventually, she never saw those people again, but she never saw them leave, either.

But one day, as Terra watched Dr. Cid from a chair in the corner of his office, with her arms wrapped around her knees, she saw the first smile she had seen in a long time on his tired face, and when she asked him what it was for, he told her that he had finally found someone who had not only managed to last through far more tests than anyone else before him, but had shown signs that he could now wield magic just like she could. This person, he told her, was none other than his young assistant, Kefka Palazzo, a man she remembered seeing on occasion, but she had never spoken to him, even if he had been working in the lab just about as long as she had been living here. All she remembered was that he was a rather short man with blonde hair in a ponytail and vibrant, blue eyes that she couldn't help but feel hid something behind them that he would rather keep secret, and she wondered if that was the very reason he didn't talk much, lest those very secrets managed to escape by accident.

After that, she would often peek out of Dr. Cid's office to see if she could catch another glimpse of the only other person that was like her, but no matter how much curiosity she held for him, the most he ever spared her was a quick glance, apprehension at yet another several hours strapped to an operating table no doubt the most pressing thing on his mind at the moment, and she could never bring herself to smile at him because she couldn't be certain he'd smile back. She had never seen him smile.

But, now that she knew who the newest cries belonged to, the most noise she had ever heard from him, she worried he wouldn't make it through the experiments, after all, from the way he would scream and thrash about as they injected him with all manner of strange liquids, making him, for those moments, so very unlike the man she was used to seeing. But, somehow he survived, even after the seizures and the week-long coma that had kept Dr. Cid up late into the night with worry. She only knew this because he let her stay up with him in his office to keep him company, and she knew he must be very worried indeed because he was normally quite strict about her keeping to her bedtime schedule.

It was not long after Terra's sixth birthday that she found that the scientists were through doing tests on her, and while she should have been relieved by this news, this only made her wonder just what would happen to her now that Dr. Cid said she didn't have to stay in the lab anymore. He promised to find someone good to take care of her, but she latched onto him, nonetheless, crying and begging him to let her stay because, even though she didn't like to hear the sounds of the tests going on in the operating room, at least he was here to comfort her when she was sad and afraid. And it didn't matter that he said they could visit each other because it wouldn't be enough.

A few days later, Dr. Cid came into his office with Kefka at his side. She hadn't ever expected to see Kefka again, not after he had stopped working at the lab some months earlier, but here he was, just as quiet as she remembered. Apparently, Kefka had agreed to take care of her, but it didn't seem to really be his idea when Dr. Cid did most of the talking and Kefka seemed distracted by what she could only assume were yet more of those secrets that now hid behind eyes that didn't look quite as bright as she remembered.

Dr. Cid explained to her that the two of them would be perfect for each other because of how similar they were, though it seemed she wasn't the only one he was trying to convince, and all the while, she remained with her back pressed up against one corner of the room, hoping her silence would be enough for him to change his mind about this whole matter. It wasn't that she disliked Kefka. He was quiet and shy and could do magic like her, but he was no Dr. Cid, and she wasn't entirely sure if he even wanted her.

Eventually Dr. Cid succeeded in coaxing her out of her corner, though she approached them with unsure steps, and Kefka's eyes landed on hers, as if this was the first time he was fully aware she had even been in the same room as him, and she noticed that his eyes did indeed look far too pale. They weren't that pale before. She would have remembered.

He forced half a grin, nearly extending a hand before having second thoughts and drawing it back, and she looked between them before throwing herself onto Dr. Cid. He held her close for a time, but had to eventually pry her loose when she wouldn't let go, but before he did, he promised they'd see each other again, but she didn't know how long from now that would be.

Terra said good bye as she followed Kefka out the door, her chocobo doll clutched in her arms as she tried her best to hold back tears, and it wasn't long before she found herself walking down the longest hallway she had ever seen, and she was reminded that today was her very first time to ever set foot outside the lab, and if today was a first in one thing, it may very well be the beginning of many other things, as well, though she had no way of knowing what that might mean for her.

And so ends the first chapter. I thought it was rather interesting writing this version of Kefka. He's so different from what we see in the game, but Ultimania says he was "taciturn" before he lost his mind, so this is my interpretation of his original personality. (And I know Cid doesn't wear a lab coat in the game, but I have him wearing one in this anyway. Because I can. And because his game-garb is so unappealing.) And, of course, please review and tell me what you think so far.