It was my normal, noble duties…Go visit a city, a town, and negotiate an alliance with it, nothing grand, really.

It had aroused many protests from my sons, now seventeen. Though both were comparatively young, they were both very wise, both knew that something was somewhat off about the Empire and wished me not to visit it. But, it was my job, so I ignored said protests and made my way down to the Southern continent, to Vector.

Once to the gloomy, metal city, I was greeted first by the stench of smoke and smog from some factories off in the distance that appeared to be attached, in some way, to the biggest building in the city, which I assumed to be the actual HQ of the Empire.

Riding my trusted chocobo with a trapped breath of air in my mouth, trapped for I was fearful to open my mouth up and let more of the grotesque air into my being, I hurried over to the giant, metal obstruction, earning many glances and stares of envy, curiosity and, what I imagined to be the faces of murderous thoughts and plans of thievery.

Trying not to let my mind dwell too long on the people around me, I urged my "noble stead" onward, but his actions were sluggish as if apprehensive to go any further into Vector, as if he longed to escape the city air and go breathe in the fresh country air again. But still, I urged him on, promising him in my head that I'd give him an extra treat when we made it back to Figaro.

Finally, still holding my breath, I made it to doors of the huge central building. My chocobo made an odd sound, a sound he used to make whenever my sons were around him when they were both young boys around the age of seven; a pleasant sound, sure enough, but also one of caution, for my sons, at that age, enjoyed plucking at his feathers just to annoy the majestic bird.

Confused by his sound, I leaned to my right to see past his head to get a glimpse at what he was looking at. I saw the side of a small figure, but not enough to make out what it was, so I got down off my chocobo to get a better look, thinking it to be a guard dog or something, but, when I finally could completely see the figure, I could see just how mistaken I was.

Before me stood the most beautiful, in an otherworldly sort of way, a very young girl, I wouldn't put her a day over ten; her hair was curly, mint green, and thrown up in a messy, yet somehow still sophisticated, ponytail; she wore a light pink dress that came down to her knees and was slightly big on her small frame with shoes to match, but her eyes were that of the most odd color of blue, the shade blue women everywhere envied.

She took her eyes off my chocobo to look at me with a look of awe and curiosity, emotions that I had never seen displayed so distinct on a child her age. Not in my manner to be rude to anyone, no matter the age, I bowed.

"Good day, young lady." I greeted her, causing an even more curious look to take over her face, as if no one had ever greeted her this way. In her own manners, I suppose, she nodded to me. "I'm here to speak with Emperor Gestahl." I watched her eyes light up with understanding.

"So you're the king?" She asked, her voice slightly louder than a whisper and sounded like that of an airy soprano. I nodded my head and smiled at her, one of those smiles you always give a child her age when you're impressed with something they did, said or knew, "They told me to wait for you." She added on quickly.

"So, they knew I was coming?" I said, mainly to myself in surprise, 'How would they know that?'

She nodded in reply, "Yes…They want to see you." With a quick and far too graceful turn on her heal for how old she looked, she walked towards the doors which some guards opened up for her. She looked back at him waiting, indicating that I was to follow her, or at least, I assumed that's what her pause meant.

We both walked down a large hall and through a few rooms before she stopped in front of more metal doors. I studied them, noticing how they looked just like the front doors but with more decoration, guessing that these doors lead to somewhere important, or to someone important.

I noticed the girl seemed to be hesitating, but, after another second of delay, she walked up, tapped one of the doors a few times and was rewarded with both of them flying open in sync. I was slightly awed by this but continued through the two doors with the young child.

"Who do we have here, Terra?" A man dressed in black robs with black and gold accents asked, indirectly giving me the child's name.

"This is the king of Figaro." She answered back quickly, as if in her defense.

"So I see. Well, thank you for bringing him." The man motioned to his side, causing the girl, Terra, to run to it and stand beside him, leaving me alone in the middle of the room. "Please, allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Emperor Gestahl and this is our Magicteck Elite-in-training, Terra Bradford." He motioned to himself then to the young girl.

I bowed, once again, though I had expected the same respect from the Emperor, especially now, knowing that he knew I was the King of Figaro. "I am Stewart Remy Figaro, and, as you've already pointed out, I am Figaro's king." Emperor Gestahl nodded without a word so I filled in the silence that was setting, "I came to view this rising power, in hopes of coming to a negotiation of peace and perhaps alliance with the Empire and Figaro."

"I have heard." He said in a bored tone, "Tell me this, why would you wish to alliance? Or, better yet, why would allying with Figaro aid the Empire?"

"I feel as if having Figaro at your aid with her ever growing technology and knowledge of technology, your weapon making, scientific research and simply building and growing would be bettered and would rapidly grow towards improvement." Alright, I must admit, the last part was not phrased well at all, but, this man had missed some obvious gestures of respect, which I look for in possible future 'co-workers', so to say, and, with that lacking respect, I was already marking negatives against the Empire.

He was obviously not pleased with my answer but said nothing against my words, so I continued, "I've told you bluntly why allying with Figaro would aid you."

There was a long awkward silence, but I waited for him to reply in some way. Finally, he nodded, "And, though I dislike you choice of words, you have a valid point." I couldn't decide whether or not he liked the fact that he agreed with me that his technology needed work and that Figaro could help improve it.

But, the fact that he agreed was enough for me, so I continued, "Now, you may be as blunt as I was or you can be far more graceful in your words than myself…" I said, knowing that this was truly the worst I've ever done at negotiating before, "But it's my turn to ask you why allying with the Empire would aid Figaro."

The man looked at me, a war of emotions on his face. I looked down at Terra who was just staring at me with a look of concern and pity on her face, sending a wave of confusion through me.

"Terra…" Was all the Emperor said in breaking the silence that had fallen. I wasn't sure if it was his answer to my question or whether he was addressing the child, but, it proved to be the latter for the child looked up at him, he nodded down to her, and then the child walked out a door that was behind them.

I stared after her in confusion, until the Emperor cleared his throat to regain my attention, "I can't tell you why it would aid you, but I can certainly show you." He said as he walked to the doors behind myself, "Follow me."

Curiosity over took my reason that was trying to tell me to leave, that something odd, something I probably didn't want to see, was going to happen, so I followed him.

"I must warn you…what you're about to see is far different than what you've seen before…It's something only rumored about in myths and legends, something we humans knew well thousands of years ago." He said, while we walked through more metal doors.

My mind trailed off, analyzing his words, trying to find his meaning, but, before I could come to any answer, we were greeted by men in long white lab coats, all outside yet another metal door.

"Emperor." One of them greeted him, to whom he nodded but walked by and through the doors, myself following after him. By now, it dawned on me that they had been expecting me for some time, which concerned me, for I had not once thought about coming to visit Vector until a few days ago.

In the room, I saw many machines, many of which we had in the hospital and research wing of Figaro and some of which were slightly out-dated, only making my statement to the Emperor all the more true. One wall on the opposite side of the room was made of some sort of glass and, it was to this wall that Emperor Gestahl and myself stood in front of, looking into a small room with a soldier standing on one side, weapon ready, and Terra, the young girl, standing on the other side in a normal stance, the same look of concern and pity that she had shown me was now turned towards the opposing soldier. It was obvious by now that we were in some sort of observing room, but my brain couldn't, or maybe it's more of my brain didn't want to think of what exactly we were observing.

"We're all set." Another man said, earning a nod from Gestahl. Said man pressed a button, causing a green light in the other room to light up.

Both the soldier and Terra briefly looked up at the light, but both just as quickly looked back at each other. The soldier ran towards the child, his odd gun aimed, but Terra did nothing but continue to look at him with a frown. He shot a ray of, what I can only describe as some sort of odd fire, as her, barely missing her, but still, she didn't move.

I looked over nervously at Emperor Gestahl then quickly back to the little "battle", concerned for the child. By now, a small ray of lightening had come from the gun and found its way and attacked Terra's arm, causing her to release a high-pitched scream, and, as she looked down at her wound, the soldier began to advance upon her with a knife drawn. I wasn't sure what was going on, or what was supposed to be happening or even what was going to happen, but I knew by the way she just stood there that she didn't want to be faced against the soldier, nor did she have any intention of fighting him. I found myself confused by the actions of the Empire; I also found myself running to a door in the observing room that led to the "battle" room without thinking.

Quickly, I threw open the door and ran in front of the child as if she was my own and deflected the soldier with a sword of my own. He stumbled back and didn't advance forward, obviously confused as to if he was supposed to fight me. Taking this as my chance, I turned to the young girl and tried my best to give her a comforting smile when I saw the tears falling from her eyes.

"Let me see it." I said as I tried to reach out for her hurt arm. She seemed apprehensive at first, not knowing if I was trust worthy, but, in a few seconds, she held her arm out to me. I held it, and turned it gently as I looked at the wound. It was gruesome, for sure, and it was no small thing either, besides, I was not doctor, but I was sure you weren't supposed to see skin blister like the way hers was. It took everything in me not to cringe at the sight of it for her sake.

"It hurts…." She said in a little voice followed by a few sniffles.

"I know." I said, ripping off a piece of my cloak, which she eyed nervously, "I'm not going to hurt you." I added as I began to wrap it around her arm. There was a silence for a brief moment. "You know, you're taking this quite well…" I said, looking up at her while she watched me with curiosity, "When my sons were your age and they got hurt, they cried like little babies." I saw her smile and wipe a few tears away.

"I'm eight…" She said somewhat randomly.

"And very brave and strong for your age." I said, trying not to let the conversation slip to silence, trying to keep her mind off of the pain.

"How old are they?" She asked.

Assuming she was referring to my sons, I answered with their age, "They're both seventeen."

"Both of them?" My attempt at conversation was obviously working, for she looked away from her arm and to me to actually carry on a proper conversation.

"Yes, you see, they're twins." I smiled when she looked at me in some sort of awe, not of me but of the fact my two sons were twins, it was obviously a concept she had heard of but had never actually seen or gotten a first-hand account on.

There was a silence that fell despite my efforts, but I was sure she wasn't concentrating on the pain but on imaging the image of twins and what mine might look like, so I was alright with the silence.

"I'm afraid we don't need an alliance with Figaro, your highness." I heard the Emperor say over some intercom. I looked up at him through the glass to see him nod over at the soldier that hadn't moved since I pushed him away. As if under some sort of mind control, almost, he pulled his gun into his arms again robotic like and aimed at myself instead of the young Terra.

Quickly I tried to reach for my sword on the ground where I had laid it but I knew by the sound of his weapon charging that I was too late, so, instead, I waited and braced myself for whatever attack was coming.

"GET AWAY!" I heard a rather familiar by now voice scream.

I don't know when, but somehow, Terra had made it to my side in mere seconds. She held her small hands out in front of her and glared over at the soldier. And then, before I knew it, a huge chunk of ice flew from her hands, hit the soldier dead-on and sent him flying back into a wall.

I knew now what Gestahl had wanted me to see earlier, why he thought Figaro would benefit from an alliance with the Empire.

Magic.

I stared dumbfounded at the girl as she turned around to look at me. Her face was in a small, shameful frown. She saw my expression and frowned more, probably thinking that I was frightened by her or by what I had just seen.

"Ho-how…." Was all that I could manage to get out. She took that as another indicator that I was frightened, so she backed away towards the door to the observation room slowly, still frowning, but this time apologetically at me, as if sorry I had to see her power.

"Thank you for coming, Stewart Remy Figaro." He said, walking behind Terra and placing a hand on her shoulder, "But, I'm afraid you've over stayed your welcome."

I was escorted out, so to speak, and given my chocobo back. I found all of this odd considering the face that when I had come to the girl's aid, he had tried to get his soldier to kill me. Or, maybe, he had simply done that, knowing the girl would use her powers if someone else was being attacked instead of herself…If so, then why did he escort me out? Why did he show me magic just to decline the alliance? Maybe I wasn't out of the clearing yet, perhaps he intends to kill me later, how am I to know? For all that I know, it could be part of his plan…all of it. My coming, meeting Terra, showing me magic…it's all probably part of some sort of plot that I was in the middle of…

But I know one thing though: the Returners could benefit from what I saw…I'll need to write to Banon soon.