Terra's Darkness: The wandering Soul
By: VaanSkylord
Authors Note
This is my first fan fiction so this is pretty exciting. I'm definitely not a great writer but this is the only way for me to express the ideas and stories I have of this particular characters, Terra Branford. I absolutely adore her character and she is very unique and well thought out. Unfortunately FF6 doesn't dive too deep in the finer details of her life, so I thought "Hey why don't I make a story off of some of the ideas I have of her life".
Remember this is purely fan made, this story is based off something that did happen in the game but the events that take place are different. It's basically what happened to Terra when she was trapped in her Esper form and what she did, I'm expanding on what actually happened. So please enjoy.
Prologue: (Just some back story on what happened before the story starts, this actually happened in the game).
The Returners fought against the Empire, in the Narshe mountains in order to keep the frozen Esper (Valigarmanda) from falling into their hands. They were successful in their ordeal and moved on to see the Esper for themselves. Valigarmanda then reacts to Esper and changes her to a beast like state, a state of which has no control.
Chapter 1: Protection
"Terra!!" Locke screamed at the top of his lungs. Desperation and confusion was all he felt, he didn't understand why Terra had transformed into what she was but he was helpless to find out, he was hanging from one arm on the side of a cliff. He didn't know how much longer he had before he fell into the freezing water thousands of feet below. Just the thought of falling into the water as it skewered his body made him shiver.
Now wasn't the time to think, he had to use every bit of his muscle to make it back up to solid ground so that he could assess the terrible situation. He could hear Terra's racking screams and the yells of some of his comrades trying to pull themselves out of the same situation he was in.
Locke had medium length gray hair, his most notable feature being the unique bandana he wore and the eccentric patterns on it. He wore a black jacket and black thin pants to match. His clothing's design matched the design on his bandana. Locke wore many different kinds of jewelry, but it remains uncertain what questionable things he did to obtain them.
The icy and slippery surface of the mountain made it hard for him to keep his grip, every time he tried to reach a foothold his foot would slip off of the surface and his arm was losing strength. The blistering cold winds did nothing but worsen his condition. 'Dammit Locke! You've made it out of situations like this before' he told himself.
Locke looked up and saw waves of energy coming from the top of the cliff; he could also hear Terra's screams of suffering. 'I have to protect her, I told her I would' he thought to himself. Locke used his free arm to grab a dagger from his belt and plunged it deep into the cliff's icy surface. He then mustered enough strength to pull himself up. "Argghhh !!!" Lock yelled as he pulled himself up, it took everything he had just to force his body to move in these conditions.
He started to slowly begin his advance up the cliff. He tried to keep a cool head and not think about how much pain his body was in. He had too many questions running through his mind. 'What happened to Terra? Is everyone else ok? What if I don't make it back up in time? What if I don't make it up at all !?'
Locke climbed up the side of the cliff with a dagger in his left hand and his bare right hand. The cold, fierce winds cut his face and blood began to seep from the cuts. His fingers were frost bitten and the strength from his arms were nearing depletion but Locke only had one thought in his head. "Protect Terra"
He said these words over and over as he climbed up the cliff, he didn't care if the climbing the cliff ripped him apart on the inside, he had a promise to keep; that he would protect Terra from anything no matter what. He dug his Dagger into the next rock but this rock was weak, it immediately gave way and he lost his grip, "Shit!" In an attempt to grab back on to the cliff he dropped his dagger.
Locke looked down and lost sight of the dagger as it fell into the frosty river. Locke looked back up and saw that he was close to the top, "Terra! I'm coming for you!" Locke yelled. His determination was louder than the howling winds. He started to climb with both of his bare hands to the top of the cliff, his eyes squinted as the winds grew stronger.
'Geez…why is it always me who gets caught in these situations? It's starting to get just a little ridiculous' Locke thought to himself.
The weather began to wear Locke out, but he didn't let that stop him from reaching his goal. Locke focused carefully on every detail of the cliff before he advanced, one wrong move and it was all over. Inch by inch he climbed higher, he placed his hands carefully on the next piece of rock and quickly tested to see if it would support his weight and searched for foot holds with his feet.
'I'm on the final stretch' Locke said to himself. He wasn't sure how he made it this far but he still had a little more to go.
Just as he started to make it to the top the surface of the cliff began to crumble and give way. "W-what the". A powerful burst of energy tore through the top of the cliff and Locke had flown off the side. His eyes widened and his mouth opened, he couldn't believe that this had happened, right before he had made it to the top he had been blown off.
Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, he saw huge chunks of the cliff fly off and waves of energy blasting through the air. Dust from the rubble had flown into his eyes and obscured his vision but then he felt something warm touch his hand. It was actually cold but compared to the freezing temperatures he had just experienced it might as well have been warm.
He noticed he wasn't falling anymore and that someone had grabbed his hand. The water from the snow cleared the dirt out of his eyes and he was able to make out the face of Celes. '…Celes…? But…how?'
He could barely make out her face but her bright blonde hair was easy enough to recognize. As the quality of his vision increased he noticed two small arms wrapped around her waste. They were the arms of Gau, and further up he could see Sabin, holding Gau's leg with one hand and the edge of the cliff with another.
Locke had never been so happy to see their faces. Locke stared up at Celes in awe. "Are you going to stare up at me all day, or are you going to climb back up?"
Spoke Celes in a loud voice as she competed with the loud howl of the wind.
Locke finally came back to his senses and climbed back up the cliff with the rest of them. The rest of the climb seemed easy, Locke didn't focus very much on the condition he was in but how glad he was that he wasn't freezing to death in the river. He couldn't help but feel grateful to Celes and the others, and something about seeing her face after his life had been saved made his heart leap.
As they made it to the top they could see Terra, although she no longer looked like the Terra they knew.
Her body was covered in a vibrant pink fur, and her hair was now much longer and it matched the color of her fur, despite her wild appearance her eyes glowed with sorrow.
Celes, Locke, Sabin and Gau were all together. On the opposite side stood Cyan and Edgar. None of them were sure about what they should do except for watch. Celes felt the impulse to dash forward and stop this but something about the power that was being emitted from Terra kept her stationary. At that moment from the corner of her eye she saw Locke run toward Terra.
"Locke, No !" Celes called out as she tried to grab his arm, but he was out of her reach.
Locke ran forward with an arm stretched forward as if to grab her Terra but with one final cry and burst of energy Terra had flew high into the sky and out of sight.
The last wave of energy made Locke fly back and fall into the deep snow. He was in a daze for a bit and noticed that something had fallen over his face. He took it off and saw that it was his bandana; it had flown off of his head from the force of the wave.
"Terra…what happened to you?" Locke whispered. He got up and brushed the cold snow off of himself.
Celes had fallen right next to him; she slowly got up and looked at him with a slightly agitated look. Locke noticed her staring at him but he felt no need to reply.
"Are you alright, Locke?" Said Celes as repositioned herself in front of him.
"Yeah I think so, but I failed. I told her I would protect her" he responded with a voice laced with dolefulness.
Celes remembered Locke saying the same words to her, that he would protect her. She felt something rise inside her. She didn't want to admit to herself that she was slightly jealous.
"I see. Listen Locke, it's not like she's dead or anything. We can still save her" Celes reassured him.
"…You're right; c'mon we gotta go find her" Locke said.
He let out a sigh, smiled a bit and grabbed her hand with one of his and put his other on her shoulder just so Celes wouldn't worry about him. Celes blushed a little and looked away.
"Alright then, I'm going ahead. Try to pull yourself together ok? I'll be waiting at the Elder's house, tell Edgar to hurry up; we need to discuss our next plan of action"
She then pulled her had away and walked away quickly. She wasn't exactly sure why but something about Locke made her feel safe. "What am I thinking? I don't need him to protect me" She thought to herself.
The rest of the party got together and talked amongst themselves for a bit, discussing what had just happened.
"Locke pull yourself together, it's not over ye-
Just then Locke's body fell apart; all of the severe pressure he put his body through had weakened him greatly. He fell on to one knee and tried to catch his breath. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stay awake; the hike back to the elder's house would be hell.
While Locke fell to the ground and heard a voice.
"Uwaooo! Shiny, shiny!" Gau yelled as he pointed to the sky. Locke looked up and he saw a pink sparkle flying into the distance just before he lost consciousness.
That's the end of this chapter it was kind of a prequel. Don't worry Terra is coming in on the next chapter. Well please tell me how I did and what I should improve on. Remember I'm not that good of a writer but I'm trying my best, hopefully I improve along the way.