"Care to join me? I always have time for a two person game." Setzer asked as he walked over and leaned on the railing beside the green haired girl.
She sighed, keeping her eyes down looking towards the earth far below the airship, "I'm afraid I'll have to pass."
Setzer sighed, "It's a shame…you keep the best 'poker face' in our group, except for myself, of course…I would have found it a great, but enjoyable, challenge."
Frowning, she shook her head, "Sorry, but our last game will have to wait for another time…"
"Ahhh," Setzer turned his head towards her frowning, "I see what this is about…you're afraid, aren't you?"
She turned her head away from him, "No.."
Setzer folded his arms, "Terra, you don't have to be ashamed of being afraid…I believe we all are."
Releasing another sigh, she turned back to him, "But, I…I cant be afraid…not at a time like this…"
His forehead creased in confusion, "But my dear, I believe going to fight the ruler and destroyer of the world would be the perfect occasion to be a tad fearful."
"I cant be afraid!" Terra snapped back at him causing him to take a step back at the anger that she so rarely showed. Seeing his reaction, she frowned, "I'm sorry, Setzer…it's just…When I was back at the Empire…fear was illegal among the soldiers…if you showed any sign of fear, you were punished…no questions, no answers, no pleads…no forgiveness…"
"But, you aren't part of the Empire anymore." He tilted his head, lost as to how that explained it all.
"I know…but…" She felt the sting of tears in her eyes and turned her face away from him again, "I guess…I'm still afraid to be fearful because of it…after being punished, you try your best to push the emotion away to ignore it….literally believing that the only thing left to fear is fear itself."
Setzer frowned, "Terra…w-what did they…" He trailed off, not exactly sure he should ask the question. There was a silence between them for the longest time but was finally broken by a soft sob. Setzer stared at her shaking body wondering if he should leave or try to comfort her, "Terra?" He frowned knowing then that she wasn't going to respond to him.
"Terra?" A panicked voice nearly yelled from the other side of the ship where the stairs were to go below deck. Setzer looked over his shoulder just in time to jump out of the way of Sabin who quickly embraced the Esper in a hug. Sabin began to murmur something Setzer couldn't make out and stroke the back of Terra's head in an attempt to comfort her. When it showed no signs of working, Sabin sent a glare over his shoulder at Setzer, "What did you do?"
Setzer glared back at the monk, "I didn't do a thing! I simply asked if she was afraid about fighting Kefka then she went into telling me why she cant be afraid…something to do with the Empire punishing fearful soldiers or something."
Sabin frowned, realizing that was it, then went back to murmuring comfort words to the Esper. Setzer stood still out of confusion, "Is someone going to bloody tell me what the heck I did?"
Sabin sighed, and glanced quickly over at him, "There are some subjects in her past that are less painful when there isn't a discussion on them."
Setzer folded his arms, "I didn't exactly make her spill all, the 'discussion' was carried out by her, not me!" Sabin frowned at him disappointed, "Well, it's true! Give me a break!"
Glaring, Sabin shook his head, "What did you say? I bet I can find something you did wrong."
"I told her she can be afraid, then she went into the discussion on the punishment of fearful soldiers, I said she wasn't part of the Empire anymore, she said that she's still afraid to be afraid and then I was about to ask…" He trailed off, finally realizing what he had said.
"And you were about to ask?" Sabin asked.
Sighing in defeat, Setzer answered, "I was about to ask what they did to her when she was afraid…" Feeling Sabin's glare drill into him, he held his hands up defensively, "But I never finished my question! I let it drop off before I was done asking!"
"You think she's stupid or something?" Sabin spat at Setzer, "She knew what you were going to ask!" He began to rock back and forth in a different attempt at comfort, "Do you even know what they did to her in that hell hole? And here you are reminding her of the way they had the nerve to treat like she wasn't a person, like she couldn't feel what they were doing to her!" Setzer bowed his head in guilt…he had heard many stories from the others about all the things Terra had to go through at the Empire as if she was some sort of lab rat ever since she was a young child…he had to admit, he should've thought his question through.
"Sabin…." Terra managed to finally get out as he sobbing became quieter and slower, "Please…don't yell….he…he didn't know." Another wave of guilt hit Setzer…he did know but here she was pleading on his behalf.
Sabin looked down at Terra's red eyes and smiled warmly at her, "I'm sorry…I just…hate seeing you hurt." He stopped hugging her but kept a hand on her shoulder.
Terra smiled back and managed to say "Thank you" with her hoarse voice. She then turned to Setzer, still smiling, "He was simply curious…would you still like to know?"
Sabin tensed and shot Setzer another glare. Sighing, Setzer shook his head, "I don't wish to trouble such a beautiful woman like that again." Sabin's glare only grew.
"No, it's alright…It's just…I don't remember everything still and when people say certain things, the missing memories come back, emotions and all…" She sighed and hugged the martial artist as if for support who returned the hug as if he were used to it and was ready to be the support.
Setzer noticed and fidgeted a little, "But first, can I ask how often things like this little scene we just witnessed happen? You both seem very used to it." He nodded to their supportive embrace.
Terra blushed, "Um…well…they used to happen quite often, but I guess I'm running out of things to remember now…so recently, maybe once every three weeks or so."
Sabin laughed, "Don't be jealous now because I get to hug the beautiful woman instead of passing lame flirting attempts at her." Terra's blushed only turned a deeper red.
Setzer was too lost in thought to think of a witty remark for Sabin, 'How long have they been that close? Is it out of mere friendship? Supportive and just that?' He watched as Sabin turned his head to look down at Terra who was looking out in the distance with a content face while Sabin's face was that of a man in awe as he looked down at her. Feeling his gaze, Terra looked up at him and blushed a little more with a shy smile which Sabin instantly returned with a smile of his own. Setzer looked down at the deck of the airship in deep thought, 'No…There's more…how long have they been like this? Have I been oblivious to the fact that the muscle head has taken yet another woman of potential out of my life? If I feel this way, I wonder how our womanizing king would feel towards this…' Setzer looked up at the sound of Terra's laugh. Sabin was saying something as he played with a stray lock of Terra's emerald green hair that hung in front of her face… Setzer smiled lost in his memories of a time he would have been in Sabin's position and the woman that he used to watch in awe would be in Terra's place…Then he also began to think about more recent memories…he had never seen Terra smile and laugh like that since he had know her…both only added to her already unearthly beauty. 'Perhaps, there's no need for the king to know…wouldn't want him plotting to ruin this.'
"Setzer?" Terra's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "Do you still want to know what they did to fearful soldiers?"
He blushed as he was caught off guard, "Oh…uh…only if you want to tell me, of course."
Terra nodded and gave a reassuring smile to the gambler, "It's no problem…Back when I was…well, around sixteen, Kefka was in charge of my punishment." Terra shuddered and Sabin responded by tightening his hug as if to remind her he was here for her. She smiled up at him and went into the recently found memory…the cause of the tears Setzer had witnessed mere minutes ago…
"Late!" Kefka pointed an accusing finger at Terra as she entered the room of the magic training facility…it was specifically designed and built for Terra and her power…to contain it, stand against it, train it, help it grow…and if needed, control it. "I'm sorry…it wont happen again." She said as her eyes continued to remain locked on the ground. "You can bet it wont!" He said as he sent a hard slap across her face…the sound of the contact echoed off the metal walls of the room. Terra frowned, knowing there was no point in saying anything else. She knew that in a few seconds, this calm and casual environment would take a turn towards the other extreme, but she soaked in some of the tranquility, hoping it would help her mask the fear she would feel when the creatures went on the attack. The fight wasn't as hard as she thought it was going to be. A quick Fire 3 spell to the dragon that once laid in the corner, and it was done…the poor ice dragon didn't stand a chance. But, unfortunately, that was the only elemental dragon…the others lasted through one spell, but not by much. An Ice 3 spell followed by an Earthquake, and three of the remaining dragons were done for. Only one was left, and it was the one who had displayed a cat-like quality earlier by scratching its back against the wall. He narrowed his giant red eyes on Terra and lunged forwards. She quickly stepped out of the way, barely being missed by one of the dragon's razor sharp wings. She quickly fired another Fire 3 at the beast, causing it to fall to the ground, but it bounced up on impact and soared up towards the ceiling. It shot out a breath of fire at her quickly, hitting her right arm as she tried to dodge. Stunned, she fell to the ground and looked at the serious burns on her arms…she knew no simple Cure wouldn't heal them all the way. Standing up, she turned her attention back to the beast…she felt heavy and tired, she knew she had used up too much energy casting all those level 3 spells…She mentally cursed herself for not saving her energy. The dragon dove down at her causing her to fall to the ground in an attempt to avoid it. A claw of the dragon grazed her back leaving a long gash from her the back of her neck to a few inches below her waist. She cringed at the pain but stood up…she felt the cold after wind of the dragon's soaring on her back, and knew that he had cut through her cape and dress…she was just glad that her strapless red dress was staying up and covering her body at the moment. The dragon rose higher and she knew he was going to dive again. She quickly began murmuring words to cast one last spell, for it's was the only energy she had left. He then began his dive attack down at her…she waited until he was no more than a few yards away before firing a Holy spell at the creature, sending it off it's course and into the southern wall. Terra dropped to her knees, knowing she used too much energy , the world was growing black around her as unconsciousness threatened to take her hostage. She tried to stand to no avail, it only made the darkening world begin to spin. Then, she heard the sound of a movement and looked towards the southern wall to see the dragon weakly trying to stand, his eyes still the enraged red color. He turned his giant head towards her, fire dripping out of his open mouth as he began to limp towards her. She once again tried to stand but it only made the darkness grow quicker and the world began to spin faster. She whimpered in pain and protectively curled around her burnt arm, only to feel an even worse pain shoot from the gash on her back as she stretched it. Another noise of pain escaped her mouth. She heard the dragon approach beside her, not sure whether to call out for Kefka's help or just let the thing kill her. The creature took it's head and hit it against Terra with all its force, sending her flying across the training floor. She landed with a thud and a cry. Everything in the world went black except for the very center of her vision…after a few seconds, she saw the head of the dragon appear over top of her as she laid uselessly on the ground. Fire once again dripped out of its mouth as it stood over top of her; she managed to put her left arm up over her face as her only manage of defense as she cringed in fear and looked away. The dragon roared and the noise was followed by a much louder thud than Terra's. She looked for the creature through her disappearing vision, seeing it laying lifeless on its side a few feet from her. She let her head fall against the ground and as she stared up, she saw a familiar clown-like face staring down from over top of her. He was clearly upset and disappointed by something, but Terra couldn't place what exactly…was he upset that she nearly let the dragon kill her? "Awww, what's wrong with little Terra? Afraid of a giant lizard?" He laughed his signature foreboding laugh. Terra froze and stared up at him…she knew exactly what he was upset about…she had shielded herself and cringed out of fear right before the giant tried to attack her. "Well, your stupid little fear made me use my energy to cast a Thunder 3 spell at the stupid thing to save your pathetic life!" He exclaimed accompanied by his flamboyant gestures. He tilted his head to the side to examine her and stalked around her again, "You know fear is looked down upon by this establishment, dear friend." She couldn't help the shudder that came from his words, "There you go again! You're spineless! That's what you are!" He spat at the ground towards Terra then kicked her side, causing her to roll over in pain, just to receive another kick to her lower back, barely missing her gash, rolling her over onto her stomach. She moaned and tried to stand up but fell back down on her injured arm. She cringed and didn't dare move again. Kefka placed his boot on her back, right over her open gash, standing on it to make sure he got all the force he could; the pain caused her to whimper again. It was too much to handle and caused her to finally be kidnapped by unconsciousness, as if the pain was working with the unconsciousness to kidnap her away…then again, she wasn't sure she was so against it at that point because as soon as she let herself be taken away, she heard Kefka cast an Ice 3 spell down at her.
Terra sighed and stepped up on the metal platform where the actual training took place and stopped a few feet away from Kefka, "I'm sorry…General Leo wanted to see me-"
"Who cares about that whelp?" Kefka interrupted, obviously enraged that she was late due to a meeting with the other male general. "He's not worth the dirt on the bottom of my boots!" The clown like general exploded as began to stalk around Terra who simply sighed.
Terra, who was used to such treatment, hung her head, "I'm sorry." She said pleadingly.
Kefka stopped stalking around her and waved his hand at her plead, "Don't beg, it makes you sound pathetic…which actually suits you, but we don't want people getting word about that! We want them to fear you and the weapon that your powers make you! Not the soft, caring, mess of a girl that you really are." Kefka spat out in a disgusted tone.
"Let's get this party started!" Kefka said, knowing he had won this little show. He clapped his hands causing a giant door on the west side of the room to open. Five large dragon like creatures filed in the room casually, seeming not to have a care in the world or a concern with the two mages in front of them. They walked by the two; one went to lay down in a southern corner of the large room, another went to scratch his back on the east wall like a cat does against a piece of furniture as the other three simply wondered around curiously. Kefka snorted at how unthreatening the five giant creatures were and stormed out the room leaving Terra with them.
Just then, a loud, high pitched buzz went off. All five dragons roared out in pain at the sound and began to thrash about violently as if hoping that movements would get rid of the sound, but, after a few seconds, all the eyes of the dragons turned a crimson red…she knew this is were the fight began…they were all enraged and completely out of control in their pain and anger…the only way to stop them was to send them to their grave…Terra cursed mentally…how she hated magic training…she hated using her powers to be the executioner of helpless creatures that the Empire didn't want to deal with…every time, she had to tell herself that it was better than being executioner to Returners to get her to fight the enraged creatures that she was faced with.
"When I woke up, I was in the Imperial hospital with all sorts of needles in my arm and a throbbing headache and stitches down my back…internally on the muscles and on my skin. They said it was possible that the cut could have been infected but they took the steps to try and prevent infection." She sighed as a few more tears fell down her face, "But, a mere week after it all happened again, they sent me back in that room for more training….I tore almost all the stitches out of my back doing so!" She began to shake as the tears came down faster, "I fell into unconsciousness again that time…when I woke up, I was strapped down to a metal table with more needles in me than before and several odd machines hooked up to me a different places…they were doing tests on me…they thought there was something wrong with me for falling two times in a row in battle…but…I couldn't help it…I just…" She broke off into more sobs.
Sabin wiped them away with his hand, still giving her a hug with his arms that wasn't occupied with wiping tears away, "It's ok, Terra." He said reassuringly, "You wont have to go through it again. Any of it."
Setzer could tell by Sabin's tone that he meant anything that had happened to her at the empire, meaning he had heard more stories than anyone and knew that there were more things to reassure her that would never happen again. But, Setzer didn't ask for anymore…he figured one story was enough for now. To be honest, he didn't know if he wanted to hear more…how people could treat life as if it was worthless and just meant to take away from as they wanted, was beyond him. But, as he watched the crying girl, he realized that if anyone had the right to go live a normal life, it was her…a life where she could just be free and not have to worry, it was her. He wondered if Sabin could give her that life…a life filled of the love she needs. Then, he also felt a strange new protectiveness towards Terra…he wanted to make sure that she got the life she deserved, the one she was robbed of, and he was going to make sure she got it one way or the other...he felt like a brother to her almost…and with this protectiveness, he found himself mentally threatening Sabin not to make anymore scars on the already traumatized girl. He also mentally wondered if the others felt this strange protectiveness for Terra…it was obvious Sabin did and times ten.
He watched Sabin's every move as he tried to cheer the crying Esper up. Both his hands were on her shoulders and he was bent down so that he was eye level with her, whispering more reassuring words to her, his face completely serious and sincere as he looked into Terra's red eyes. Something he said had made her smile and she threw herself into a hug onto him. He laughed and returned the hug gently yet firmly continuing to promise her that she wouldn't have to worry about anything like that again. Setzer felt his mouth pull into a half smile as he watched them, at his own memories of a time when he would have found himself smiling at a love like that and knowing that his threats against Sabin werent needed, really, Sabin was probably the best one for Terra in the sense on not scarring her anymore. With that last thought, he walked away to go down below deck to challenge the others in a game of Spades.