Final Fantasy VI: Cold Fire
An Angel of Snow
Notes: This is a complete rewrite to bring it up to par with some of my current works.
The Imperial Cadets had been sent to the outskirts of Vector for training. This was not an unusual thing to happen, especially with the MagiTek Knights Division. The last thing that the Imperial military wanted was for a rich delegate's house to catch fire from a stray unfocused tendril of magic. What was unusual was that General Leo had given the cadets a free day to do as they please. For young cadets Celes Chere and Terra Branford this meant they could have time to themselves exploring the surrounding countryside, something they both had been excited for.
As they wandered the plains lands and played games such as hide-n-seek in the tall grasses, the sky turned gray and the air chilly. Their playfulness stopped when Terra fixated her puzzled gaze to the sky and held out a hand to catch tiny feather-like flakes. "Celes," she said with an arched eyebrow, "what's this falling from the sky?"
It was snowing! Celes, pleasantly surprised, leaned closer to inspect the white flakes collecting on Terra's hand. It had been a long time since she had last seen natural snow that she hadn't created herself. Because of the industrialization of Vector, it was something that just never happened in the city. The official consensus was that the Devil's Lab and its fire-based MagiTek were to blame. The unofficial consensus pointed towards the thick smog that hovered atop the Emperor's palace. Both were equally plausible. Both could have been equally wrong. Nobody really seemed to care either way.
"It's snow," Celes said as if she suspected that Terra had already been privy to such information. "I filled Sergeant Pepper's office with it last week for calling me 'Tits Magee.' You were there with me, hey."
Terra turned even more confused. "Is that what this is? It looks different, like feathers!" she said, her young inquisitiveness going full swing. "Are angels shedding their wings?" Her large emerald eyes cutely crossed as a stupidly large flake wetly flopped square on the tip of her button nose.
Angel feathers? Celes snorted with laughter. "Oi, ya silly bugger," she said. "Feathers don't melt when they touch you!"
Terra deflated with this new revelation, but her hope was not entirely lost to the wind. "But isn't thunder angels bowling?" She sounded almost as if her entire understanding of the world would come unhinged if her beliefs were proved wrong.
As much as Celes wanted to tell the truth, she wasn't in the market for breaking hearts. "Maybe," she said. "I dunno about thunder, hey, but snow and ice I definitely know about." In an act of spontaneity, she stuck out her tongue and caught a large snowflake that disappeared beyond the tip of her nose. A spike of cold rushed through her tongue for the briefest of seconds, flooding her with excitement. She hadn't done this since the orphanage, where it had been safe to do so. But around the city, well, gods only knew what else could fall from the sky.[1]
Terra was staring again, the cogs in her head trying to churn out a solution to a problematic puzzle. "Why did you do that?" she whispered in awe. "Why would you eat angel's feathers?"
Celes laughed again. "I used to do it all the time when I was a kid. I even made a game of it."
Terra, still looking as if the whole concept was foreign, sputtered, "But… But you are a kid."
Celes huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "I'm thirteen. Totally not a kid, hey." She snorted. "And how do you not know what snow is? It's just frozen water that floats down from the sky, like ice shavings."
Terra frowned and tried to hide between her shoulders. She rubbed the upper portion of her arm and avoided eye contact. Her whole demeanor had turned sour, and quickly at that. "I'd never seen the blue sky or green grass until a few years ago," she said in a wavering whisper. "Never felt the wind in my hair or the splash of rain on my face. I just remember…" She paused when her eyes misted over as if remembering a troublesome past event. "I remember pain, loneliness, darkness, and still, stale air."
Celes had a witty retort on the tip of her tongue but thought better of letting it loose. Terra never discussed anything of her past. The fact that she had mentioned this much and shed tears over it was enough of a reason to hold the teasing. She hesitantly reached out to rub Terra's shoulders in what she hoped would be a soothing manner, but it felt too awkward and out of her element to be of any soothing assistance. Comforting was not one of her strong points, but she was going to try anyway. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I'm sorry," Terra said with a nervous laugh. The tear streaked smile she gave as she rubbed her eyes dry was adorable enough to melt the ice in even the hardest of hearts. "Can we talk about snow instead? It's beautiful."
Celes nodded before pulling them into a hug. Normally, Terra was stoic, so much so that people had trouble guessing what she was thinking. To see her so free with her emotions and breaking down as she had, awakened something deep inside, a fiery desire to protect this beautiful girl from more than just asshole male cadets. She'd protect her from whatever lurked in her past as well. "Whenever you're ready, Terra, I'll listen, and, if I have to, I'll beat up the arsehole who made you cry afterwards."
"Celes…" The floodgates opened once again before Terra tightened the embrace. "Thank you."
A silence befell them as they stood in each other's arms on top the grassy knoll. The wind whipped their hair about as the snow started falling heavier and faster than before. The world was now at peace, no wars, no military, no MagiTek. It was just the two of them, the natural world, and susurrations of the snow fluttering down around them.
Seeing the greens and browns of the Vectorian valley disappear behind a veil of quiet white was breathtaking. Seeing it cling to Terra's ivy curls was even more so. Celes couldn't help herself; she kissed Terra on her reddened cheek.
Further adding to this impulse, Celes laid flat in the cold stiffened grass and pulled Terra down with her. She directed the bewildered girl to do as she was doing, to look straight up into the sky. Despite having done it numerous times before at the orphanage, it was still an odd sensation to watch snow fall straight toward her. With the added difficulty of discerning where one cloud ended and the next began, it made her feel as if she were flying along a never-ending ceiling of gray.
"This is beautiful," Terra whispered. She curled up beside Celes, startling her out of her imagination, and draped an arm across her chest in a loose cuddle. "I never want this day to end."
Neither did Celes. It was rare they got to spend time alone like this. It was even rarer still that they did things together where she could pretend that they were a couple in love as opposed to just really close friends. She made a noise of agreeance and patted Terra's hand on her shoulder.
"Can we stay here, in this moment? I've never heard angel's footsteps before. It's a lovely sound."
"I'm not going anywhere." This earned a squeal of excitement and a nuzzle on the cheek as a response.
It had gotten so quiet in the valley that the only sounds besides their own voices were the tiny crinklings of snow touching the ground. Strangely suiting that Terra had referred to it as 'angel's footsteps' considering that she was a green-haired angel herself.
Hours passed as they lay staring into the sky and enjoying each other's silent company. At some point, Celes must have fallen asleep for she dreamt of frolicking in the meadow with Terra, building a snowman with her, throwing snowballs at each other, and kissing her as the snow fell around them. It had been a pleasant dream, a bonus and a welcome change from the usual nightmares she experienced.[2]
The sky had turned from a bright gray to a dull black when Celes awoke. A little fire nearby licked at the falling snow and gave its best at burning the cold to oblivion. Unfortunately, it wasn't faring well on that front but was at least giving their little camp a bit of light. Terra must have sparked it to life at some point; she wasn't as lucky as Celes and could still succumb to freezing temperatures. This was further clarified by the flame being closer to her and her attempt at stealing body heat like a housecat.
Celes tried sitting up, but the dead weight of the sleeping Terra and her cute little noises of unconscious protest delayed that action. She had no idea of the time, but based on the amount of light not pictured in her surroundings, the two of them would soon be missed back at base camp. She was torn though. Part of her wanted to stay and enjoy the moment of snuggling with the angel at her side.
Terra was her best friend. Terra was her only friend. Terra was also the object of her desires. And it was because of that damned friendship that she could never admit to Terra that she…
Celes sat up with a groan of frustration. General Leo and Instructor Ironsides weren't going to tolerate them going AWOL at all. And the last thing she wanted was punishment dished out by Court Mage Kefka. That guy was creepy enough from a distance even without some of the stories she had heard.
With a shudder, she slid out from under Terra's grip and snuffed out the fire with a blast of ice magic. "Leave no evidence of your existence as a soldier in the wilderness," General Leo had once said, training that she took to heart in this instance. She didn't want them to know that she had fallen asleep just as much as she didn't want them to know that she was 'different' compared to the other cadets.
She scooped the lightweight rosy-cheeked Terra up into her arms before scuffing out with her foot where they had been laying. Surprisingly, as Celes made the trek back to camp, Terra readjusted herself to wrap her arms around her neck and nuzzled her cheek. "I found your feathers, Celes," she mumbled with a slur.
Celes smiled and resisted letting her heart burst into a million pieces. When removed from the military setting, Terra was adorable, even more so with the snow clinging to her dark mass of curls. She gave a brief kiss to a rosy cheek and whispered, "I wish I could tell you how lovely my angel looks with hers."
[1] Wyverns were abundant around Vector. It was always best to keep one's tongue in one's mouth, to invest in a hat, a clothespin, a shovel, and a friend with a shovel.
[2] One day, Celes had accidentally stumbled upon MagiTek creator and genius Professor Cid in his office drunkenly entertaining his 'assistant.' The sight would have scarred even the most battle-hardened individuals. As a young impressionable girl, Celes had no chance to survive unscathed.
More stories in the FFVI: Cold Fire Universe:
Rust Never Sleeps
An Angel of Snow
Who Gives Healing to the Healers?
Point Me to the Sky Above
Rust Never Sleeps Remix: Alternate and Deleted Scenes
On Archive of Our Own:
Prayer of Revenge