Taking His Leave
by Themis56
Themis56@aol.com
This short fic occurs within the game's events, but I started at the interim between Kefka's burning of Thamasa and Leo's funeral. It goes on to describe some of the game's actual events; it's half made-up, half game-based. I hope you like it! Not much action, but, then again, I never was good at writing exciting stuff. :) By the way, I must warn you: you've got to have a pretty good idea of what goes on in the game to understand some of this stuff. I don't go into much explanation about people's past, if I even do at all.
Oh, and just for the lawyers' sakes: Terra, Locke, and other related characters are property of Square. Yeesh, I hate writing that part. Like everyone doesn't know who owns the stupid characters.
Enjoy!--Themis56
A rapid outburst of coughing ripped Terra from the warm, unfeeling void of unconsciousness; the spasms wracked her thin body as she felt the bitter taste of phlegm mixed with blood on her tongue. Screwing up her face, she slowly opened her eyes and spat out the horrid stuff onto the ground beneath her.
Terra languidly hauled herself into a sitting position, her joints straining under the exertion, and looked around her.
The town--she couldn't exactly recall its name yet--was filled with trails of smoke, making Terra's eyes water and causing her to cough even more. The acrid smell stung her nostrils; she feared that the whole town was burning. She jumped to her feet, but then the fact registered in her brain that there was not a single tongue of flame to be seen. There had been a fire, but it had apparently been extinguished.
Terra let her gaze travel all around the little hamlet, her eyes taking in the scorched brown grass, the flakes of black soot that had fallen everywhere, dotting everything; and she saw the smoldering husks of the unfortunate houses that had been the first to ignite, and also the more fortunate houses that had received little damage, just a bit of peeled paint here, a scorched roof there.
Terra was also beginning to see people moving throughout the smoke, hauling large empty tubs, wet sacks, and other containers behind them; the hard lines on their faces and the exhausted looks in their eyes revealed that they had been working hard, using both spells and water, to extinguish the flames that had threatened to consume their town.
For a while Terra simply stood there, unnoticed by the townsfolk, dumbly observing everything and yet understanding nothing. She had forgotten where she was or what had happened here, or how she had even come to this place. Her eyes then rested upon the inert bodies skewed upon the ground a little distance from her: two men and two females. Terra squinted at them. For a second, she had recognized them, but immediately their identities had fled from her memory, mere effervescent shadows that seemed to grow dimmer the more she tried to recall them.
After a few minutes, the smoke began to clear; Terra's memories started to become more coherent as the gusts of fresh air began blowing in, clearing her aching and fuzzy head.
Thamasa! She was in Thamasa; she had come here to seek out the Espers with her friends, and she had found them, and then Kefka had...
Terra stared at the scorched buildings again, this time realizing what had happened. Kefka must have burned the town.
But where was Kefka? Where were his troopers? And where were the Espers?
"Yura! Yura, where are you?" Terra called, turning her head slowly to take in everything; the Esper leader was nowhere to be found.
"Yura!!" she called again; the only reward she got for her pains were odd glances from nearby townspeople.
He was gone, all of the Espers were gone. Kefka, she determined with a sickness in her stomach, must have killed them all.
Terra collapsed to a sitting position, dumbly gazing around her.
Suddenly, through the dissipating wisps of smoke, a dull patch of green caught Terra's eye. She looked harder; she stifled a cry by clamping her hand over her mouth.
There, lying beside the wall of a cottage, partially hidden by the smoke and shadows, was General Leo.
"Leo! Leo!" Terra called out once more, scrambling to her feet. But she, being weak from the inhaled smoke and shot through with pain, fell to the ground, and was forced to move on her hands and knees over to the still body of the general.
"Leo, are you all right? Answer me, please..." Terra gently shook him by the shoulder.
There was no response.
It was then, in one horrible moment, that Terra realized that his chest was not moving; her hand jerked up from its place on his inert shoulder, and it was smeared with blood. Terra gave a small cry as she gaped at his body: his once immaculate green coat was spattered with blood, and a great clotted puncture wound could be seen at the base of his neck.
"No...no...you mustn't...you have so much to teach me..." Terra panted, placing her hands on his cold, pale face and murmuring the words of a Life spell. His chest remained as still as death.
She fumbled with her pack and started anointing his body with Phoenix Downs and forcing Potions and Elixirs between his pale, slightly blue lips. Still, no response.
"Help! Somebody, anybody! Help me!" Terra shrieked, desperately pushing down hard on his chest in a futile attempt to get his heart beating once more.
A small crowd of people had gathered around the young woman, gaping at her with looks of sympathy and incredulity. Not one of them moved to help her.
"Come on! What's wrong? He's wounded, and needs help! Please..." Terra looked up, her eyes beseeching them to action, as she helped Leo's stiff body up into a sitting position, his head resting limply on her shoulder.
"Terra," a voice sounded in her ear, "he is dead."
Terra glanced up at the owner of the voice; it was Locke, his eyes and face weary, his hand resting gently on her shoulder.
"Dead?" Terra echoed.
"Dead," Locke responded, ever patient, as he gently pried her fingers from their clutch on Leo's coat front.
Terra looked down at the cold, stiff body and felt a sob rising in her chest. Here was a noble man who, although of the Empire, had always been so kind and gentle with her. He had been one of the two citizens of the Empire who had seen her not as a toy, a plaything, nor as a weapon to be manipulated, but as a living being.
But, more than that, he had understood what it was like to yearn for love, yet never receive it. His life, like hers, had been nothing but to fight, no more; he had been respected, admired, even liked, but never loved.
And he had died without ever experiencing true love; that seemed to be the greatest tragedy of all.
But now all of Leo's troubles were over; he had ascended into a better place, Terra was certain. But that knowledge did not do much to ameliorate her position: she was alive, and no closer to love than before. Leo could have helped her cope with that, could have taught her how to be patient; he might even have been the key for her truly learning what love was.
Now that path had been closed to her forever.
Terra burst into tears against Locke's chest, clutching at his shirt.
"Will she be all right?"
Through the haze and sobs, Terra could distinguish a new voice, as tired and weary as Locke's had been; she lifted up her eyes and saw Celes, newly recovered with Strago and Relm behind her, standing over them, her icy gray eyes almost sad.
"Don't know...but I think she'll make it. Just give her some time," Locke responded, giving Terra's shaking shoulder a squeeze.
"Terra..." Celes knelt down beside the shaking half-Esper girl, her face stern but her icy gray eyes softening, "Terra, pull yourself together! I know it hurts, but...
"How do you know?" Terra fixed Celes with a gaze that was wracked with pain and anger. "How do you know? You have no idea how much it hurts, you don't! You're made of ice. Nothing can move you. You simply don't understand."
"You're right; I don't know how it truly feels. But I can see by your expression how much you hurt. I've seen that expression before. And, need I remind you, that he was my comrade-in-arms?" Celes responded without raising her voice, her eyes shifting from Terra to Leo's body and becoming somewhat sad.
"Celes is right, Terra. It hurts, and it won't ever totally leave you, but you gotta take it and live with it. I know, it's not as easy as it sounds, but that's what you've got to do. Grit your teeth and live with it. Denying it doesn't help," Locke whispered, patting Terra's shoulder as he lay Leo's body gently on the ground and helped her up to her shaking feet.
"That's strange advice, coming from you," Terra mumbled, her eyes riveted on the ground. Locke's eyes flashed and he made to answer, but the old mage Strago placed a gnarled hand on the young treasure hunter's shoulder.
"She doesn't mean it, sonny. You know she doesn't. You young people always fly off the handle, just like Relm. Just forget it."
Relm did not retort to the little insult thrown her way; she was sorrowfully observing Leo's bloody, cold body. Locke sucked in a breath and nodded, so Strago let his hand fall.
"We...we must bury him..." Terra spoke again, staring once more at the body.
"Do you think the mayor will let us bury him here?" Locke asked of old Strago, looking at the small group of headstones located off to one side of town.
"Of course! The man was noble, and the Empire betrayed him as well as us. The mayor won't have any objections. But if he does, he'll have to answer to this," Strago reassured, brandishing his staff; everyone except Terra managed to crack a small smile at this feeble attempt at humor.
"Cram it, Gramps," Relm muttered; Strago did not rise to the bait.
"Come on, let's gather some people to dig the grave. I'll see if we can find a suitable headstone at the mason's. Come on, Relm. Let's go see the mayor," Strago volunteered, dragging his granddaughter behind him as he stalked off.
"Help me take him over to the well," Terra requested weakly, tugging pathetically at Leo's body. "I need to wash his clothes. They're so bloody, so bloody..."
Locke and Celes exchanged a look before moving forward to assist in carrying the body for washing.
**********
Leo's body lay stiffly on the bier; his coat clean of blood and the wound on his neck carefully bandaged. His stiff fingers grasped the sword that was resting on his chest.
Ever so deliberately, a small group of able-bodied young men proceeded to lower the body into the grave; the only sounds were the squeaking of pulleys and ropes.
Soon, while Terra and the other watched in absolute silence, the grave had been repacked with earth, and the men had quietly gone away.
When she was certain that only she and her friends remained at the site of burial, Terra slowly walked forward; she gently rested a bouquet of delicate red roses before the ornate headstone and knelt.
"General Leo..." she whispered. "People only seem to want power. Do they really want to be like me?"
Then, in a softer voice: "I wanted to learn so much more from you..."
An awkward silence filled the air for the longest while; each one in the small group hardly dared to breathe, let alone speak.
"He was so gentle..." Celes finally broke the silence, bowing her head but shedding no tears. "He was a good man. Out of all the people in the Empire, he was the only one who ever spoke a kind word to me. He was always honest and frank with me, too...never once did he lie. He never lied..."
Suddenly, a large black Doberman, its fur matted with blood and limping badly, staggered into the clearing, jerking everyone out of their own thoughts.
"Interceptor! Oh, my sweet little puppy, what happened to you?" Relm squeaked, recognizing the ninja Shadow's companion and rushing forth and throwing her arms gently around the dog, who gave her face a small lick.
"Man, that's a nasty wound," Locke sucked in his breath as he knelt down and gingerly traced the large gash on the dog's side; he removed his bandanna and wrapped it tightly around the wound to staunch the flow of blood.
"That'll have to do," he muttered, looking at his handiwork, and then his face contorted with rage.
"We lost not only Leo, but Shadow, too...damn them! Damn the Empire!!"
Celes flinched visibly as she quietly stood beside the treasure hunter; her beautiful face had small worry lines etched into it.
"Now I'm worried about Edgar and the others..." she murmured, looking off into the distance with eyes that seemed to be trying to see something in nothing.
"I hope they're all right..." Locke echoed her worry, looking off at nothing as well.
Terra only shook her head and sniffed back tears.
**********
A few minutes later, a dark shadow cast itself over Thamasa. Townsfolk shrieked in alarm as a great ship hovered ominously over the scorched hamlet Was another Imperial attack imminent?
Instead of Imperial troopers, the airship produced four men: Setzer Gabbiani, rich owner of the world's only airship and world-renowned gambler; Edgar Figaro, King of Figaro and a whiz with machines; Edgar's brother Sabin, martial arts master; and Cyan Garamonde, a Doma Knight and great swordsman.
"We've been had!!" Setzer shouted as he walked towards Locke and the others, the myriad of scars on his face bright pink with rage. "The Emperor is a liar!!"
"Thanks be to Edgar!" Cyan interjected. "He managed to inform us of the plot before any misfortune befell us."
"Way to go, Edgar!" Locke smiled slightly, his sad brown eyes sparkling a little.
"I got to know the gal who brought us tea. After a little...talk, she just blurted out the whole crooked plan!" Edgar laughed lustily, winking at the treasure hunter and holding up a lady's handkerchief.
"Looks like you hit pay dirt, eh, brother?" Sabin nudged the King knowingly, a sly look in his eyes.
"Shut your mouth! There're ladies present! I was a perfect gentleman!" Edgar retorted, hastily hiding the prize in his armor.
"General Leo's gone...Kefka did him in..." Locke reported, bowing his head and shifting his gaze over to Terra. Her face was paler than usual, but she did not break down into hysterics; Locke thanked the gods for that.
"Sir Leo?! Gone!? What a waste...he was their finest soldier..." Cyan's hard-lined face screwed up in pain and he bowed his head in reverence. Cyan loved honor, and no-one, whether Returner or Imperial, had been more honorable than Leo.
"Let's go back to the airship...we need to rethink our strategy," Edgar suggested after a pause; everyone agreed that this was sensible. Strago and Relm requested to come along. After a bit of bantering, they were allowed to join the small band of heroes.
As they walked out of the burned town, Terra turned towards the small clearing and gave one last glance at the tomb.
"I'll never forget you," she whispered, bowing her head once more.
She did not know what would befall her, nor what other tragedies she would be party to. But she was determined not to give up her quest. She would make Leo proud of her; she would find what she was looking for, even if the world had to be ripped apart for her finally to achieve it.
With that final glance, she walked slowly back to the airship.
I know what you're all thinking: 'My God, what kind of freak IS this girl?!' Well, I can't help it! I liked Leo a ton, and I think that there aren't enough fics that show the game from his POV, or show what another character (usually Celes or Terra) thinks about him. And I, being the noble person I am, have tried to make up for the deficit of Leo in the fan-fic world. Yeah, yeah, he wasn't a major character, I know that! But, now that I think about it, I probably won't be writing a fic that is tied to Leo in some way for quite a long time. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this! FFVI FOREVER!!!
--Themis56