"They feared that if they remained it would only be a matter of time before their powers were targeted again."
In the darkness, Terra finds a door. Pushing it open, she finds herself in her past.
Metal and glass. Walkways. Railings. Staircases. Cylindrical containers, meant to hold her kind. The cries of those driven mad. The pain of ending their suffering. The sting of false words...
The Devil's laboratory.
Seeing it fills her with fear. Fear of returning to that life, of being reduced to that, of holding the remains of her kin in her hands. She tries to push these fears to the back of her mind. She tells herself those days are long behind her.
The laboratory is dead. The scientists who once worked here, tormenting the Espers for the sake of power, are gone. The creatures created here have abandoned their birthplace. Even the monsters that moved in afterward are nowhere to be seen. The lab is quiet.
Taking her thoughts from the past, Terra finds herself dwelling on the present. "What am I thinking?" she asks herself.
"You doubt your companion." The voice is familiar, and Terra turns to see an image of Cosmos standing beside her. "You do not trust him anymore."
"I... I don't know what to think," Terra says, hanging her head. "But... I shouldn't have left him behind."
"The Onion Knight is a capable warrior. He can defend himself. It is you who seek protection."
The goddess's words cut at her, but she knows they are true. She feels helpless on her own. "But I can't go back. I have to find the truth on my own."
"He deceives you in trying to protect you. The truth can do more harm than you know."
"Even so... I have to find and face it." Terra looks into the goddess's eyes. "If I continue to rely on others... If I don't believe in my own strength... I'll never find the crystal!" She drops her gaze again. "At least, that's what he told me..."
"You know where your heart leads you. Follow that path..." The image wavers, and disappears.
Terra silently thanks the goddess. "I still don't know what to do," she says under her breath, "but I'll search for that path." She turns around and reaches for the door, but is surprised when it suddenly opens against her. Moving to the side, she watches as an enormous man in black armour enters. A dark cape billows behind him as the door closes, and he passes by her without notice.
Terra feels suddenly very exposed. Moving to a nearby alcove - containing one of the empty glass tubes, but with plenty of room around it - she huddles against the wall and waits. The armored man walks across the catwalks spanning the middle of the lab, to another walkway on the other side. The open space of the large laboratory is broken up by several platforms with esper containment cylinders atop them, hindering her view of the other side. Feeling curious and a little braver, Terra quietly follows him, finding another container alcove tucked away on the other side of the lab. She sees another door at the end of the walkway, and a smaller, lightly-armored man approaching the knight of darkness.
Crouching behind the dirty, clouded glass, she listens. She hears the armored man continuing his stride, until the other man's voice gives him pause. The voice sounds masculine, soft but harsh, asking a question of the black-armored man.
He responds, his voice deep and oddly melodious. He rejects his comrade's question without emotion. The other man gives him a warning - or perhaps a threat - and then their conversation is over. Looking out from her hiding place, she catches a view of him walking past. Black clothes and long silver hair, a small smile on his face. As he walks by, he looks strangely familiar, cutting a romantic figure across her field of view.
Then he turns. He looks at her, hiding in the dirty alcove, bits of rust clinging to her from the disused metal. If he is surprised to see her there, he does not show it. He turns his head to look at the armored man, and Terra listens as a set of doors open and close.
"You can stop hiding, Terra," the silver-haired demon says, stepping away from the alcove. Her heart is pounding in her chest, and she can feel it in her whole body. This man is not as large or imposing as the other minions of Chaos she has encountered, but his tone and bearing exude an intimidating aura. She is almost too afraid to move, but she is more afraid of what might happen if she doesn't.
"That's right, no need to cower like a rat." With Terra standing, the silver demon sizes her up. A disapproving expression crosses his face. "You don't look well," he says. She almost believes he is concerned. He turns and walks to the edge of the walkway, resting his hands on the rail and looking at the room. "I shouldn't be surprised. This place makes me uneasy, as well."
"You-" the words catch in her throat. Swallowing, she tries again. "You know this place?"
"It is not so different from my own world. Dirty, and in ruins, but still familiar." He lets out a single, bitter chuckle. "With stone walls, and perhaps some bookshelves, it would almost look like my... 'home'." He laughs quietly, a hint of hatred burning beneath his voice.
She feels a strange connection to him, sensing the scars beneath his pure exterior. He seems almost familiar. She lets down her guard, only for a moment. "I watched my people suffer and die here, before I even knew them. I hate this place... but it is all I have of my world."
"Such a shame," he says, shaking his head. "You will have to fight here, by all accounts. Your opponent among Cosmos's forces will come here to face you for her crystal."
It suddenly dawns on her. He believes she is on Chaos's side. He turns to look at her, and she cannot hide the fear on her face.
He looks away again, sighing. They stand there like that, Terra frozen in fear, the silver demon looking out at the lab.
"Terra..." he starts, only barely showing his uncertainty. "We're enemies, aren't we?" His disappointment is evident. Terra steps back into a ready stance, and in a split second he is armed and facing her, the rage of battle in his eyes.
He swings an oversized katana horizontally, a split second's duck away from severing her head then and there. With a shriek, she lets out a blast of ice, knocking him off the walkway.
For a moment, she considers drawing her sword. It is too early, she decides, and too serious an opponent. Instead, she begins running along the walkway, hoping to put some distance between her and the black-clad man. He appears in her peripheral vision after a moment, climbing nimbly back onto the walkway. She turns around to see him advancing in quick steps, slashing a storm toward her. She shields herself, but is knocked back by the force of his attack.
Watching her scrabble to her feet, the swordsman asks "Where are your fangs, Terra? Where is your fire?"
Flustered by his attack, Terra releases the first magic that comes to mind, sending a flame racing along the ground toward him. He spreads out his arms and lets the spell connect, blasting him into the air.
She runs to the door behind her, opening it and running through. Suddenly, she feels trapped by a crushing force, and is pushed violently back into the room. In front of her, through the door, the edge of the shard appears clouded. Her heart sinks as she realizes she is trapped.
"Where is the dreaded witch who once burned all in her path?" the swordsman asks. He is on his feet again, advancing slowly toward her. "Who is this coward, running from her battles?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Terra cries, backing up against the wall.
"You've forgotten who you are," he tells her, gripping his weapon in both hands. "I'll show you the darkness that makes you strong!"
Four balls of clouded light appear around Terra, closing in on her. Feeling her magic coursing through her body, she slams her hands against the floor, directing her energy toward the swordsman. A sudden blast of water from below sends him off his feet, disrupting his concentration. The lights disappear.
"That's it," he says, landing easily. "That's the power you're holding back." Running toward her again, he shouts "Let it loose!"
"Stay AWAY!" she screams, shooting another chunk of ice at him. He easily splits the chunk in two with a vertical slice, barely slowing in his advance. The next slice connects with her arm, knocking her painfully against the wall. She slumps down, gripping her bleeding arm.
The swordsman reaches down and picks her up by the shirt, swinging her around and releasing her, letting her stumble into the railing. Before she can regain her balance, three more slashes connect with her back, the last one hard enough to send her flying out across the lab. She collides with a glass canister standing on a raised platform in the center of the room. The glass shatters, dozens of razor-sharp pieces cutting into her, and she lands, crumpled at the bottom of the canister.
She lays there, breathing quickly, blood pouring from countless wounds both great and small. She sobs through clenched teeth, the pain nearly overwhelming. Instinctively, her muscles tense up, and she feels the pain focus in her mind. Suddenly, her body begins to move on its own, and she rises into the air, a flash of light bursting out from her.
Suspended in the air, she locks eyes with the swordsman, who flashes a cruel smile. She feels the shards of glass being pushed out from her wounds as they close, but she doesn't look at them. Her eyes do not move, staring into her opponent's, burning with hatred.
"I have to fight..." she says, her voice boiling with rage.
"So fight," he replies, holding his sword at the ready.
Her muscles don't need to move to launch her body toward him. Even so, she moves like a predator leaping to the attack. His long blade waits, but she gives it little mind, brushing it bloodily aside with an arm that heals all too quickly. In a moment, she is on him, slashing his sword arm away with claws that weren't there before. He falls to the floor. Blood raging in her veins, she descends on him, tearing away the black leather and goring his chest.
He does not scream. Pushing off the ground with his arms, he launches the two of them into the air. Terra loses her balance, and he kicks her away. In a flash, his katana returns to his hand, and she is met with a storm of slashes.
From within her, another storm emerges. Whirlwinds surround her body, picking up the shards of broken glass behind her and drawing the swordsman into a razor-sharp tempest. Her power flows out into the storm, unhindered by fear or hesitation, and feeds its winds more and more until she can no longer sustain them. When the winds subside, the swordsman is sent plummeting to the floor below.
She descends toward him, and he begins speaking again, this time in a low groan. "I want you to remember what brought this out, Terra." He looks up towared her, and she locks her gaze with his, ready to strike again. "Tell me, what is it you fear?"
She does not move, the only thought in her mind the instinct to survive. "Let me drive you to your limit..." He spins on the ground and rises to his feet, leaping into the air with his sword trailing behind him. She drops toward him. "Let me give you what you fear!" They collide in midair, spinning around one another until the swordsman pushes her away, upward.
She tries to regain her balance, twirling above him as he launches himself toward her again. His blade connects, sending her up, and in a moment he is there again, his strike sending her further upward. She tries to focus, to regain her bearings and strike back, but her preternatural senses are fading, and her mind is growing clouded with concerns outside of the fight.
Below her, she sees a city. Little buildings huddle among the surrounding mountains, as snow falls around her. In the mountains, she sees familiar faces looking up as she flies away. She doesn't want to abandon them, but the pain and confusion keep her from staying. She was never human, she knew. This monstrous form was always waiting beneath the surface.
A final slash sends her into the ceiling. The metal panels crack and bend around her. As she falls out of her impact crater, she feels weakness invading her body. For a moment, she wishes she could remember. No longer posessing the strength to fly, she falls through the lab, to the floor below. She lands gracelessly, feeling the pain of the impact in her whole body as she lies face-down on the cold, rusty floor.
Only a few moments pass before she hears boots land next to her. The swordsman roughly turns her over with his foot, looking down at her with an expression she can't understand. "That position is unbecoming of you," he says evenly.
A shrill, menacingly familiar voice calls out from behind him. "That's hardly any of your business, is it, Sephiroth?" the voice asks.
He turns to look, but both of them know who it is. Kefka, the mad mage, enters Terra's bleary field of vision. "If you haven't noticed, you're playing with MY toy. Why don't you buzz off?" Kefka's annoyance is plain; his words come out in an exaggerated growl.
Sephiroth shakes his head, disappointed. "Such a great creature in the hands of an overgrown child..."
Kefka makes an aggressive motion toward Sephiroth, but the swordsman doesn't flinch. "She's mine! Mine, mine, mine! You know the rules."
"I don't work for Emperors anymore." He walks away. "No matter. I have my own puppet to play with."
Kefka watches Sephiroth leave, then turns to examine Terra. Fear courses through her, but she is too injured to flee. "What. A. Mess." He leans over her, bringing his face so close she can smell his rancid breath. "Can you hear me in there? Helloooo! I do hope you're listening, dear, because I HATE to repeat myself." He sounds, as usual, like he is not taking the situation seriously. Terra knows it's a flimsy act. "You see, I'm supposed to eliminate you. The problem is, you're just too weak!" His voice is getting louder, closer to an inevitable violent outburst. "They send ME to kill someone like YOU! Tell me, what's a God to DO?"
Every part of her mind is telling her to flee, but her body does not respond. She knows Kefka can become violent with little provocation, and now he is teetering on the edge of an attack that will surely kill her.
Something, however, is holding him back. "This just won't do, little monster. It won't work, not like you are now! And just like the last idiot who called himself Emperor, this one is leaving all the problem solving to me!" He sighs, looking away with an agitated expression. "So, for now, I think I'll let you go."
She continues to stare at him, unsure of his intentions.
"Oh, believe me, I'd like to stick around and play with you, but..." He pauses, looking ready to change his mind, then continues. "Eh, it might be more fun this way." He turns and prances toward a door. "Toodles!" he calls, and with that, he is gone.
She tries to muster the strength to stand. Rising to her hands and knees, she steadies her breath. Focusing on her injuries, she channels the weakened magic in her body to heal them. The process is agonizingly slow, but she manages to keep her mind focused on the task long enough to restore herself to able condition.
She lets her focus disperse, and other concerns once again invade her mind. She feels her throat clench at the thought of leaving the Onion Knight alone with these madmen roaming around. She rises and begins to head for the exit again, but stops. "If what Kefka said about me is true," she thinks, "is there any point in returning? Perhaps the Knight really is better off on his own..."
She shakes the thought from her head. "I don't know what to do," she says under her breath, "but I can't do any more here." Reaching the door, she takes one last look at the ruined lab before stepping into the darkness again.
"If our power is used for destruction, the skies will darken and life will fade from the earth."