*Terra's POV*
"Hey! Let's go do something!" I closed my book and looked over at Sabin. He was sitting on the edge of his chair staring at me, waiting for my answer.
"Like what? You know we're not supposed to go anywhere." I frowned. The others had left a day ago, leaving Sabin and myself in charge of the Falcon…why were we the two left behind, I really had no idea.
"Terra, come on! They could be gone for days. Do you really just want to sit here and do nothing until they get back?" He cocked his head to the side like a dog hearing its owner talk to it.
"Sabin, if you want to do something then that's fine." I smiled over at him. I had known him for a little over a year and I knew Sabin didn't like sitting still and doing nothing for too long.
*Locke's POV*
There was a good reason we left Terra and Sabin back and the ship by themselves: it was obvious to us that sense the collapse of the world, something had been on Terra's mind and we were afraid to bring her looking for Espers went she wasn't completely "here". The reason we chose Sabin to stay with her was, well, Edgar had a feeling that Sabin had a thing for Terra…I personally didn't see it, but Sabin didn't complain like he normally would have to staying behind, so maybe he does.
The Tower of Kefka was just as creepy as the person it was named after, not that I'm surprised.
"Locke, what exactly are we looking for?" I sighed and turned to Stezer who had his arms crossed.
"We're looking for treasure, what else?" I smirked, causing him to sigh.
"Don't tell me you pulled all of us just to look for treasure." Stezer walked ahead of me and stopped a few feet away, "If it was just normal treasure, you would have left all of us back at the Falcon."
"He's got a point." Celes walked up the flight of stairs I had just climbed. Once she was on the "floor" we were on, she shifted her weight and put her hands on her hips, "What's so special about whatever we're looking for here?" I smiled over at her.
"Why not ask the old man, he's the one that tipped me on it." I glanced down over the railing. Strago was a good two floors below us. I wondered if he heard me, I had said it pretty loud, but then again, he was pretty old.
"What did you say?" He yelled up and I saw him pick up his pace the best he could.
"All I said is that you're the one that told me of this 'special' treasure we're looking for." I crossed my arms and waited for his reply. After a few minutes, he was standing with all of us.
"That's right I did!" He huffed and looked at each one of us, "It's rumored that it's got some magic property to it…it could be helpful in our fight."
"Strago, what is it?" Celes walked towards him but he shook his head.
"How would you expect me to know that? I might be elderly and smarter than all of you by a long shot, but even I can't tell what it is based on rumors!" The old man got mad over nothing. Celes sighed.
"How much longer?" Edgar panted as he reached all of us.
"I'm sorry, your majesty, is this too much walking for you? Would you like me to carry you?" I laughed but stopped when I realized I was the only one.
"Locke, we've walked up at least twelve flights of stairs and have no clue how many more there are!" Edgar stood up straight and frowned over towards me.
"Kupo!" Mog's little cry could be heard below us. We all leaned over the railing. He had fallen on his face from being scared by Gau. But, as we did, there was a heart stopping cracking noise and the railing shook alittle. We all looked at each other before the railing fell off towards the ground. As we fell, I looked around at Celes, Edgar, Strago and Stezer, then, I felt a jerk on my stomach causing a gag reaction. I wasn't falling anymore…I was just hanging in the air. There were arms around my stomach. I looked up and saw Celes staring down at me, above her was Stezer who was holding onto her, above him was Strago holding him, then, at the very top, was Edgar hanging onto the side of one of the floors we had already walked on with one hand and holding Strago with the other. Shadow and Cyan both were grabbing onto Edgar's hand that was holding all of us onto the tower. I looked down towards the ground again.
"I bet Terra and Sabin are having a better time than us."
*Sabin's POV*
She wasn't doing anything but standing by the window and staring out of it…Since we had met up after the ruin of the world, she had been extremely distant and I had made it my job since then to figure out why…but all attempts I had taken have gotten me no where so far. I crossed my arms and continued to stare at her.
"Hey, Terra…" I didn't exactly know where I was going from there and the thought that my plan wasn't thought out hit me when she turned towards me in response. I looked at her for a few seconds. Her green hair wasn't in its usual ponytail, but freely flowing down to just above her waist and she wasn't wearing her cape…I suppose this is her version of casual. If I was going to be honest, I like it better…I liked her hair down and I liked the fact that she wasn't hidden in her usual cape..I liked just seeing her, not the last hope the state of the world made her be. She was a very beautiful woman.
"Yes?" She questioned after my two minutes of silence, "Are you ok?" I looked at her confused after her question.
"Yeah, why?" I really didn't know why she had just asked me that..I felt fine…maybe a little hot…
"Well…I think you're blushing." I looked away after her answer…was I blushing? Why? All I had thought was that she was pretty… 'That's not what you thought.' I heard my inner self clearly, 'You didn't think pretty..you thought beautiful.' My inner self laughed and I felt my face get warmer knowing 'he' was right. Terra got up, walked over and put her hand on my forehead.
"You're burning up, Sabin." She looked straight into my eyes…I wondered how she did that, you know, make it look like she was reading your soul through her eyes..was it by magic or was it just a Terra thing? I don't know…The girl was a complete mystery to me! Just when I thought I understood her, she'd do something else to throw me for a loop.
"I'm fine, Terra." I looked away from her but I didn't move my head out from under her hand…I wasn't sick, but her hand was still comforting to me somehow...I liked it. 'I'm not supposed to feel this way…I lived as a monk for years!' I frowned to myself.
"Sabin, are you sure you feel ok." She was doing it again…reading my soul with her eyes through mine.
"Yeah…just, tired, I guess." I sighed internally…that had to be the worst excuse I had ever made.
Terra took her hand away, taking my 'comfort' away with it. She smiled, "Well, it is rather late; I suppose we should go to bed." She walked towards the small hallway that lead to the room that Celes and her shared and I found myself staring after her. The only thing that broke my stare was her turning around. She looked like she wanted to say something, so I waited quietly…but she sighed and turned around, "Goodnight, Sabin." Then she walked down the hallway towards her room. I managed to say goodnight back before I heard her door close.
*Edgar's POV*
We made camp on…what, the twentieth floor? I sighed..We'd been traveling up this stupid tower all day and were now camping on it. Of course after our little "incident" with the faulty railing, we had been extremely cautious traveling up the tower, making progress slower.
"Edgar, can I talk to you?" Locke looked at me from across our little "campsite". I nodded and we walked up to the next floor.
"I have a question…you said you think Sabin has a thing for Terra?" I cocked my head to the side, not remembering saying that to Locke.
"Did I?" He nodded slightly annoyed. I crossed my arms and thought back, "Now that I think about it, I think I remember saying something along those lines."
"Did you forget on purpose so you wouldn't have to remember how your brother took the girl you had been hitting on?" Locke smirked and I sighed.
"Just because I hit on a girl, doesn't mean I like them." Locke stared at me.
"Do you like Terra?" He smiled.
"None of your business." I sighed.
"You like her, admit it, Edgar…but what I can't figure out is, if you like her, why did you leave her alone with Sabin?" He raised his eyebrow as he continued to stare at me.
"Because, unlike me, Sabin has never actually 'loved' someone the way I think he loves Terra…as a good brother would do, I'm letting him have his first love." Locke frowned.
"I don't get you, Edgar. You act as though girls are your whole life, you tell people that pretty much, yet you'd be willing to sacrifice a girl you really like to make your brother happy." Locke continued to frown.
"What can I say? I have to be the best brother alive." I smiled and walked past him, back down to our camp for the night.
*Terra's POV*
It was a dark room entirely made of mirrors…I walked around it, looking for a way out, a door , a window, anything! I watched the mirrors as my reflection followed me through the room from all different angles. A door appeared out of nowhere on one of the mirror walls. I ran to it but when my hand touched the knob, the door turned to glass as well, but instead of my usual reflection, I saw me as an Esper except my eyes were glowing red and there was blood dripping off my hand that hung to my Esper form's side.
I backed away from it quickly, expecting my Esper reflection to back up as well, but unlike a normal reflection, it just stood there, staring at me with its glowing crimson eyes. Faster than I thought, my back hit another mirror wall. When it did, my Esper reflection in front of me disappeared. I turned towards the wall behind me to see the Esper reflection again, blood still dripping from its hand but what really caught my eye was the pile of dead bodies, bleeding and maimed, off to the side and behind the Esper reflection…not just any bodies, they were the bodies of my friends. I saw all of them, their lifeless faces, their broken bodies…the burns and wounds they were like giant neon signs of an Esper attack. I turned back to my Esper reflection, then down to the blood on 'my' hand.
Then, that too familiar laugh echoed in the room…Kefka's figure appeared not too far off from behind the Esper reflection, "No use considering yourself holier than thou." His voice was twisted and dark, but most off all, close, as if not too far behind me. I went to turn around but when I did, all the mirrors disappeared. I stood confused, frightened, and lost. There was the sound of a liquid dropping off something and splashing on the ground…there was the feeling of a warm liquid on my hand. Cautiously, I looked down at my hand and when I did, I caught a glimpse of the rest of me…I was in Esper form…Finally, my eyes made it to my hand to see that it was the source of the dripping sound, to see that the warm liquid on my hand was blood. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't see anything else…I lost control …I screamed.
*Sabin's POV*
I heard the ear splitting scream from deep in my sleep. I sat up straight and ran out the room, nearly falling over a few times since my mind was still in a fog from sleep. Another screamed ran through the airship, this time, I knew exactly where it came from. I shook off the fog and broke into a sprint.
"Terra!" Another one of her ear piercing screams. It sounded like someone was slowly killing her. 'Could someone be killing her? Could they have gotten into the airship?' I sprinted forward faster.
I ran into her door before trying to open it…it was locked. Frantically I began punching it and running myself into it before finally blitzing it. The room was pitch black but I could see a form on one of the twin beds tossing and turning. I threw myself across the first twin bed, then onto the next one. There was another frightened scream but this one was more out of shock.
"S-Sabin?" Terra spoke up. I looked down at her…even in the dark I could see her wide eyes.
"Are you ok? I heard you screaming! What happened!" I stared down at her but she just continued to look up at me. "Terra?" She reached over quickly to a light on a table inbetween the two twin beds and clicked it on. I saw the huge blush on her face and could very clearly see her wide eyes now…but what my brain didn't get is why…I continued to looked down at her for a few more seconds before it clicked. I was literally sitting on top of her. I stayed there in silence as I felt my face get hot before I threw myself onto the other twin bed, nearly falling off of it.
I sat on the other bed with my back towards her, "Sorry…" was the only thing I managed to get out. There was a long, hanging silence in the room, the kind always found after an awkward situation.
"Sabin?" Her voice sounded a whole lot calmer than I felt. I slightly turned my head towards her to let her know I was listening, "Sabin, why did you come in here?" Her eyes darted towards her wrecked door, "And why did you break my door down?" I sighed.
"I heard you scream…it sounded like someone was killing you, Terra…I..I was worried." She sat up in her bed, got up and walked towards the window; she was wearing a white dress much like the red one she wore during the day but this one flowed more and was as tight as her normal red mini dress. And as before, her green hair was down, flowing to her waist…I liked this look better than the one earlier. I looked away again.
"I'm sorry…I didn't realize I was actually screaming…I thought it was just in my dream." I turned back around…obviously I couldn't stay turned away for long. 'That doesn't sound like a dream…that sounds like a nightmare.'
"What were you dreaming about?" Her head bowed towards the ground. I got up and walked over towards her and stopped about a foot behind her. "Terra?"
"I'd rather not say…" She sighed. I continued to stand behind her and wait. After a few seconds, I saw her whole body shake then I heard a soft sobbing noise.
"Terra?" Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed her arm, "What's wrong? What did you dream about?" She still didn't answer, so I turned her around but she kept her face towards the ground.
"I-I dreamed….dreamed..I..killed all.." She cut off into a sob.
"Killed all what?" I grabbed her other arm, but her crying continued, "Killed all what, Terra?"
"All of you! I killed all of you!" She broke out into a crying fit. I was beyond words at that point…I didn't know whether to be afraid or worried…I did know seeing her cry like this somehow, for some reason, made me want to cry, but I wasn't going to. I did the first thing that entered my head: I pulled her into a hug and listened to her cry as if she was carrying on a conversation with me.
I'm not sure how long we stood there, her crying and me 'comforting' her, but next thing I knew, there was a light coming from outside the window. I looked down at Terra…she wasn't crying anymore…in fact she wasn't really doing anything anymore.
"Terra?" There wasn't a response, just the soft sound of her breathing. 'Must've fallen asleep.' I smiled; sure my legs were tired, but I didn't mind, I actually liked it…a lot…I liked her being this close, I liked the calmness of this all. 'You can't feel like this! Remember? Monk-' I quickly silenced the voice of "reason" in my head.
"Sabin…you can let go now." I looked down at Terra who was looking away. My arms fell to my side quickly…I guess she was awake after all.
"So….Are you ok?" I looked over at her and she sighed.
"Yes." She continued to look away.
"Terra, have you had that dream before?" I questioned.
"Quite a few times, actually…only after I lost control." She looked down and began to wring her hands together.
"When was that?" I was becoming truly curious.
"A few days after Kefka destroyed the world…I nearly destroyed half of Mobliz…back then, my dreams were more of me killing the children there." She visibly cringed as she thought back to her old dreams.
"Wait…in these dreams-" She cut me off.
"Did I kill all of you because I lost control? Yes…or at least that's what the dream implied." She frowned.
"And that's why you've been so distant." I crossed my arms and nodded to myself. Terra whipped her head back to me.
"What?" She looked shocked, curious and slightly offended.
"Well, since we've all met up again, you've been spacing out and trying to avoid as much time with us as possible…it's to protect us, isn't it?" She frowned again and simply nodded, "Terra, you need to understand that you need to tell us this stuff so we can try to help you! We're your friends, we don't want to see you like this." I frowned.
"I didn't want to bother all of you with it, though." I sighed and shook my head.
"The only thing that bothers me is that you kept it a secret." She stared at me wide-eyed. "What?" She looked away smiling.
"Well…it is morning…you want breakfast?" I cocked my head to the side, 'What a random question.'
"Sure…sounds good." With that, she walked out of the room and I followed after her.
I watched her make the breakfast, mentally making notes of everything she was doing…Several times I caught myself smiling as I watched her. So, maybe I was trained as a monk, maybe I was supposed to have gotten rid of all desires, but I'm only human, it's only natural for me to desire after certain things. I've also heard that it's a girl thing to look at someone and visualize a life with them…I want to make one thing perfectly clear, I'm about as man as you can get, manlier than of the other guys I hang out with, but in all fairness, that doesn't take much…eh, maybe Shadow has me beat, but not by much. Anyways, as I've established, I'm far from girly, but as I watched Terra walking around the kitchen as if everything was normal, as if our lives weren't the last things left to save the world, I could see myself living the rest of my life with her, a normal life…if our lives would ever be normal…
I sighed, none of us were normal…we were all misfits in our own way and together we made a band of misfits. But maybe, after Kefka's out of the way, we could all live normal lives…Locke and Celes would finally realize what we all know: they love each other, Cyan could move on, adopt Gau as his son so they'd both have a family, Shadow could move in with Relm and Strago, Mog and Umaro could go live in Narshe again and help rebuild some of it, GoGo..well, I'm not sure what he'd do, Stezer would continue to travel and prey on new gamblers, maybe try to go back and get Maria, Edgar would go back to Figaro and continue to rule as their king while picking up a new girl every week, and Terra…well, I hoped now that her normal life would be off living with me in some house in a wooded area with a place her and I could practice my fighting and her magic, perhaps I could even have a pupil…of course that would mean the Mobliz kids would have to come live with us…or we could live with them, they have some woods around them…but if they call her Mama now, would they start calling me Papa? That's a name that would take time to get used to…then again, I don't think I'm entirely against the idea…
The plate being set in front of me broke my concentration. I grabbed the fork that was put beside it and dug in, letting my thoughts continue down the road they were heading…there was no point in stopping them.
*Stezer's POV*
'There's nothing here, I should've known.' I thought to myself…we had been up thirteen flights of stairs today and were finally at the top in a little room but it didn't appear that anything was here.
"Strago, I thought you sensed something up here!" Locke shot at the Blue Mage who simply shrugged.
"That was a few days ago now." The old man didn't look repentant or shocked that what we were looking for wasn't here.
"That's great! Thirty-three flights of stairs for nothing!" Relm threw her hands up in the air and stomped off towards the door, followed by Gau who was mumbling something unintelligible to himself.
"Kupo!" Everyone turned to Mog, "Did you stop sensing it, kupo?" Umaro groaned as the moogle climbed up to his shoulder.
"About a few hours ago." Strago sat down and crossed his arms.
"A few hours ago and thou didst not tell us?" Cyan stood over the mage and accused.
"Don't worry, one of us has it." Strago looked over at the swordsman knowingly. All eyes turned to Locke.
"Alright, Locke, if you took it just speak up before we really get mad." I stared at the thief/ treasure hunter annoyed.
"I didn't take it!" Locke held his hands up innocently. Strago sighed.
"I believe the one you want is GoGo." Strago looked at each one of us. We all looked around…GoGo had been with us just a few minutes ago..hadn't he? Now that I think of it, I don't remember seeing for most of this day…that guy, girl, it, whatever he was, is a mystery to all.
"Guys! I think GoGo is making his way to the bottom of the tower!" We all ran out the room at the end of Relm's statement and looked over the railing, making sure not to lean on it. GoGo was about fifteen floors down already and didn't show signs of stopping. I sighed, 'Looks like it's time to go…I sure hope Terra and Sabin are having a better time.'
*Terra's POV*
The morning after the little incident from last night that lead into most of the morning, was calm. Sabin was acting differently around me…I wasn't sure if it was because of my break down or for some other reason. He had convinced me to take the airship to Tzen, promising we'd be back at the stop the others had left us at before noon. While there, he kept offering to buy me anything I said would be nice to have…I wondered if his eyes were bigger than the amount gil in his pocket. He would act very gentleman like: he'd hold open doors for me, escort me by the arm to certain places and when it began to rain he held the umbrella…it was all somewhat out of character but then again, maybe this side of him was always there but now just showing…but if so, then why? I don't know, but I don't mind, I was enjoying spending time with him…more than I liked spending time with any of the others. I felt different around him…happier than I do with anyone else…His smile was the highlight of any and all my days which wasn't hard, Sabin enjoyed smiling and trying to cheer other's up. I'd felt something for him for a long time but I don't know what it is…is it love? I wouldn't know…I've never been in the kind of love our relationship would be…but, if this is that kind of love, I wanted more of it every single day…I wanted more time with him. That's why I was happy when they chose Sabin to stay behind with me…but I knew my time alone with him was ending.
Around eleven, we went back to the airship, which he offered to fly back to the spot they had left us. And we made it back in time, too. He landed the airship and looked over at me as he had been doing lately, I felt my heart pick up…he gave a half smile and walked over towards me.
"Terra…I wanna tell you something." I looked up at him, waiting…part of me hoping he would confirm what I thought I was feeling. He moved a few strands of his stray hair back with a swipe of his hand then proceeded to move pieces of mine back…for someone with such a muscular build, he could actually be quite gentle. As he opened his mouth to speak, I sensed someone coming towards the airship, then begin walking up the ramp we had lowered for them. I sighed which caused Sabin to stare at me for a second before, I think, he got the message and took a step back.
We both watched the ramp for a few seconds before we saw GoGo walk up, holding an unopened treasure chest. We stared at the chest then up at him.
"The others will be down in about ten minutes. If you two are gonna do something, the clock is counting down." He walked down to the lower floor. I felt my face begin to burn, knowing exactly what he meant. I turned to Sabin who had a blush on his face…one that probably mirrored the one on mine by now.
"There was something you wanted to tell me?" I looked away, out towards the direction of the tower. I heard and sensed him take a few steps towards me until he was maybe a few inches away.
"I wish it was easy for me to just come out and tell you…" I looked at his extremely close face.
"Why isn't it? You can tell me, Sabin…I won't bite or lose it, Esper's honor." I smiled getting a smile out of him. "Besides…I need to know what you were going to say…to know that what I'm feeling is what I think I'm feeling."
"What do you think you're feeling?" He questioned almost anxious and excited.
"I think…I think I love you, Sabin…but I don't know what love feels like, so I don't know." I looked down frustrated at myself for not knowing for sure. Sabin got closer, closer than I've ever been to anyone, and looked down at me. His hug felt nervous and cautious at the same time, but it also felt warm and happy. I'd bet all my gil that if he wanted to, he could squeeze me in half, but as I said before, he could actually be extremely gentle when he wanted. He kissed the top of my head.
"How about this…I know I love you." I turned my face to him, not caring about the blush on it at the moment. He was blushing but smiling down at me…I'm pretty sure that's the second I knew I loved him. He leaned down and lowered his eyes and I could feel mine closing as an instant response, until, the sound of a throat clearing made them shoot open. Sabin and I were staring at each other's face, not even an inch apart, then turned quickly to the source of the clearing throat.
Edgar stood with a sly smile and crossed arms at the top of the ramp, "Hope I didn't interrupt anything important." He winked at the both of us and I felt Sabin sigh.
Just then I sensed GoGo making his way back to the deck. When he was up there with us, he walked in front of Edgar, blocking his and our view, and pretending as if he didn't notice Edgar's presence, "I came to tell you that the clock's countdown is done." With that, he walked back to the lower floor.