This story features Terra from Final Fantasy VI, not the poser from Birth By Sleep.

Terra sat in the chair in Belle's room, hands folded across her lap, as she stared at the other room sobbing on the chair. She felt awkward and uneasy, but did not quite understand why. She didn't understand much of anything. Bursts of feeling would sometimes come across her in waves, but she did not know what to make of them.

She watched her

Friend…?

Lean her head against the bed, lines of water running down her eyes. Terra had read about crying, and understood it to mean something bad.

Terra felt uncertain of what to do, so she merely sat and stared. She tried to rationalize the action in her mind, tried to thoroughly understand the reason for it. But she drew nothing more than a complete blank.

"Dear…"

Terra stared down at Mrs. Potts, who was nudging her ankle with her spout.

"Yes?"

"Let's leave Belle alone for tonight.?"

"But she said that we would read together again tonight."

Terra had arrived at the Castle of the Beast several weeks ago. Alone, tired, and hungry. Belle had immediately taken her in and cleaned her up. At first the girl had thought Terra to have been stricken insane by the conditions of traveling, as she had. She had no understanding of common courtesy or even human emotion.

Despite that, however, Belle had taken it upon herself to look after her. She had introduced her to her own personal library and had begun introducing her to books. Terra, who had only ever read signs on the road, struggled greatly with more complex literature.

Despite her difficulties, experiencing the world through someone else's eyes was enlightening. She know had a vague understanding of how people reacted under extreme stress and pain. She understood the idea of joy, of happiness, of love, of anger. She simply did not feel it herself, that was all.

"Belle isn't feeling well. Let's leave her alone, alright?"

Mrs. Potts was polite, yet firm. Terra stood up, let her arms fall to her side, and then almost robotically made her way to the door. She opened it, casting one last considering look back out at Belle, and then stepped out into the hall.

Mrs. Potts hopped out after her as the door shut behind them.

"Will she get better?" Terra asked her. Mrs. Potts bent her spout at her and seemed to smile.

"I'm sure it will all work out." She said. "It always does."

"I hope so." Terra said.

"You're a good girl." Mrs. Potts said affectionately. "Why don't you try reading on your own tonight?"

She had tried once before and had not found it nearly as interesting as she had with Belle. Belle had insisted that it got easier with time, but Terra was not so sure. She couldn't even do something as simple as crying. What if she couldn't read, either?

Despite her reluctance, she stepped down to the library on her own, her green hair billowing down her back. The Castle was dark and dreary whenever its servants were not anywhere near. There were, however, no Heartless. A fact that Terra was grateful for.

When she stepped into the library a tall, cloaked figure stood among the books. She recognized him immediately as the beast. He whirled on her, his eyes blazing.

"Belle-?"

His face turned to a snarl as he saw that it wasn't her. "You?"

Terra said nothing. She stood impassively in between the rows of books, not a trace of fear on her face as the Beast stalked up to her, his teeth bared.

"Ever since you arrived I have been plagued by these visions." He said. "Do you know the Man in Black?"

The Man in Black? She knew nothing. She told him so.

"You lie." He scoffed. "You are tearing Belle and I apart."

He looked severely agitated, and aggressive. Terra vaguely wondered whether she would have to fight him. But before she could decide he stalked past her, out of the open door, slamming it behind him.

She sat and read for an half an hour or so. She was not enjoying it. She found the characters and situations unrelatable. She had never attended birthday parties or turned invisible in front of her family. She didn't even have a family.

If only there was a story about a girl that felt nothing at all. Then maybe she could understand it, all on her own.

She sat up in her chair. An idea had just come to her. She perused the shelves, her eyes alight with a determined fire. She herself felt nothing, nothing at all. But those around her did indeed.

Half an hour later she stepped out of the library, a book tucked under her arm, as she stepped down the hallway to Belle's room. There was no one around. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. Belle was still crying, her head planted face first into her bed. She had not noticed her come in.

Terra stepped forward, and pulled the chair out from her spot in the corner. It made a loud creaking sound as she dragged it along the floor. Belle looked up, surprised, as Terra placed the chair in front of the bed, directly across from her, and sat down in front of her, the small book in her lap.

"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Terra intoned, with no emotion, but firmness and clarity. And then she opened the book and began to read.

She struggled with many of the words. They seemed somewhat archaic and did not match her own speech, and the book was a great deal more complicated than the picture books she had been practicing with. Despite that, she plowed onward doggedly, through the entire first chapter.

Terra stopped, pausing to clear her throat, as her eyes met Belle's. She was staring at her with a kind of abrupt fascination. She was not crying at all.

"What is it?" Terra asked, suddenly feeling somewhat self-concious. Bella looked surprised for a moment, before smiling radiantly at her.

"Terra, you just did something nice."

And in that moment, Terra finally understood happiness. She felt it herself.