Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VI.
Okay, same deal as last chapter. This is just in the batch of ones I'm reposting.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Slowly, the cold metal door creaked open against the slight eddy that had plagued the room since before the thirteen year old girl could remember. She turned her head up to meet the clouded, crazed blue eyes of the man standing in front of her in the tiny, cell like room that was entirely coated in odd bits if steel bolted together, made especially with the purpose of being able to regenerate themselves from magical attacks.
The man, who can't have been much older than thirty, was a peculiar sight. Clad in seemingly every scrap of brightly coloured material he had ever passed, he would've stood out in the bitter darkness of midnight. White paint adorned his face, neck and hands, with red paint ringing his malice filled eyes; the red also far over reaching the outline of his permanently smiling lips that only added to this clown-man's sadistic air.
He leaned down as if studying the girl as the ever present grin widened, two rows of teeth, almost pointed, that were shining ivory white showing through the haphazardly painted crimson lips. The girl whimpered and struggled against her bonds to wriggle away from this man, shaking her mint green haired head and closing her emerald eyes as her cries were muffled by the cloth tied around her mouth. Her blue and white dress - now mottled with patches of beige and dirty brown - was torn in some places, a legacy to her maltreatment; as if her gangly limbs and lethargic demeanour were not enough of an indicator.
The crazed man began to circle her body as much as he could in a predatory manor, as though he were getting ready to devour her or break her apart limb by limb. Suddenly, shrieks of high pitched, cackling laughter escaped his odd mouth, bouncing off the cold metal walls as no one came to her rescue - no one ever would, not even the blonde girl who was the same age as her; and so the girl gave up struggling and whimpering, instead sitting limply on the floor, her arms attached high above her head to the wall on magic proof cuffs. She was trapped, she was always trapped here. If only she hadn't done that thing... Then she wouldn't be here, in this squalid cell, being watched over by this crazed clown.
"Good, you've stopped struggling." The clown man cackled. His voice grated against the girls ears, as high pitched and maddening as his pestilence of a laughter was.
"I am Kefka Palazzo, but you needn't know that." He stepped closer, she could feel his breath of her face and his features were all blurring into one abysmal cacophony of headache inducing colours. With one final cackle, he declared his last statement before leaving the room, the statement which would haunt her for years to come.
"You're mine now, girly."
"Stop it! Leave me alone!"
"No!"
"Go away!"
They could all hear it, the unmistakable sound of Terra's voice piercing the night sky. She hadn't woken up screaming like this since the night two weeks ago when they were on the Veldt, just before they had met Gau once more.
The stillness of the nights outside the rich, green scenery Thamasa, was only disturbed by Terra's fear laced voice. Their day had not been fruitful, depressing would be the best word to describe it - and it had left them all in a melancholic mood. Not one word of Strago nor Relm - whom all the people in Thamasa seemed to see as somewhat of a plague on their perfect town as she had apparently been born of wedlock - had been found. They were left without hope for their comrades now, and thusly they had all departed to bed with heavy hearts.
Edgar knew in his mind, as he raced down the stairs to Terra's room, that he should've stayed with her that night. The other night, when she'd awoken screaming, had been spent in relative peace after he stayed nearby. And tonight of all nights was an opportune time for nightmares to strike.
As Edgar flung open the door to Terra's room, he notched that he wasn't the first to have arrived, Cyan and Celes were standing vigil at the foot of the bed; Gau was sitting submissively and whimpering in the corner; Sabin was trying to calm her down to no avail and Mog was flitting about more worried than any of them had even seen them. Even Setzer had awoken and was stomping around and muttering curses as he made his way down.
"What in the bloody hell is happening down here?" Setzer growled, pushing his way past Edgar and into the room, before he laid eyes upon the squirming and shuddering Terra, freezing immediately in his tracks midway across the cabin-like room that was identical to all others except for the few personal objects scattered here and there.
"She... okay?" Gau asked tentatively, trying his best to for a coherent sentence in a language they could all understand.
Celes plastered on an unconvincing fake smile (she'd never been much of an actress, not even during the Opera) and nodded her head hesitantly, before going back to watching Terra who still squirmed around somewhat, but she was no longer shouting unintelligible fragments of sentiments not shivering quite as violently: thanks to Sabin's efforts.
Gau took the bait and nodded, standing up (although he was still considerably hunched over compared to your average person) and ambled out of the room with a little smile on his mouth.
Cyan too left, with Celes soon after him and Mog flying out over their heads, zooming straight off to his room which he shared with huge, fluffy Yeti, Umaro. As soon as Terra seemed stable, Setzer filed out, leaving the two Figaro twins alone in the small sleeping girl's room.
"What do you think's wrong with her?" Sabin asked to Edgar who was still standing in the metal reinforced wooden door frame.
Edgar wandered over slowly to his brother's side, "She mentioned something about Kefka last time, and maybe she's just revisiting old memories." He said nonchalantly, putting on the uncaring mood so thickly that Sabin could tell something was up. But now was not the time to comment on it.
"Damn that sadistic clown prick!" Sabin hissed violently, squashing his hand into a tight fist and flexing his muscles until the joints in his hands and wrists clicked in the still night air.
Edgar nodded mutely, not tearing his gaze from the green haired half-esper as any point.
"Ed, what's up?" Sabin asked quietly, acting on his brother's more than abnormal behaviour.
"Nothing." Edgar lied quickly, too quickly, his eyes still looked down at the fairy eyed girl - barely a woman in form - before him, his heart full if sorrow at the painful dreams she was going through.
Sabin raised a sceptical eyebrow, but said nothing and stepped back from Terra's bed. "If you say so, I'll leave you two to it."
Edgar nodded, now grateful on the inside than he would probably ever outwardly show.
Sabin left am the room without incident and shit the door behind him with a gentle click, before Edgar pulled up the hard, uncomfortable wooden chair and sat upon it once more, daring to reach out and touch the outstretched palm of Terra's hand once before she murmured something more, one single word that told him all he needed to know.
"K-Kefka..."
Not now. Not that infernal clown one again. It breaks my heart to see him bother you.
Edgar placed a gentle hand on her forehead as Terra's eyes fluttered open.
"Edgar..." She muttered in a voice that barley reached above a whisper. Her fairy eyes slowly became focused and her galloping heart beat calmed to a tranquil trot. Her lips curved into the ghost of a smile, a soft sigh escaping her rosy lips, as she pulled herself upright and looked at Edgar with her characteristic sympathetic eyes.
"Are you okay, Terra?" Edgar asked, sitting on the edge of her bed, an arm's length away from Terra.
A certain darkness returned to her eyes and the fairy gloss lost its sheen as she remembered her dream, or rather, nightmare.
I hope you liked it. Please follow for more and review if you've got time. Thanks!
