Author's Note: Okay, so - if it isn't obvious already, totally disregard my statement about a schedule from the last chapter. Obviously I am terrible when it comes to scheduling and am incapable of keeping a proper one up.

Anyways, sorry for the super long delay. I have no excuses for why I didn't write, I was just being lazy and my sudden flare for creativity was snubbed out. I still do intend on writing this story and I'd very much like to complete it, but I'm not one hundred percent sure I will.

I've never been very comfortable with writing for character that don't belong to me and I've put a lot of thought into how I'm going to pull off some of the things that happen and how I'm going to explain abilities (such as Sabin's Blitz, Cyan's Bushido, Strago's Lore and especially General Leo's Shock) and I can't say I'm completely satisfied with what I've come up with so far. Maybe I'm just putting too much thought into it, but I just feel like I don't have the skills to pay the bills.

Either way, as of this writing, I do intend on finishing. We'll see how I feel as the story goes on.

Sorry for the long wait everybody. Hope you enjoy what I've put together.

Update - 3/13/14: Fixed minor grammar and spelling errors and cleared up some discrepancies which had been pointed out to me. I probably didn't get them all, though, so I'll likely go over it again at a later date.

The world around her became clear so suddenly. Unfortunately that's all that seemed to become clear. Everything was so jumbled and messy in her head, nothing was coming to her. Even her own name wasn't coming up. Why? People should remember their names, shouldn't they?

The room she was in was an unfamiliar one, she knew that at the very least. It was an oddly comfortable, warm toasty temperature and the thick blankets she was wrapped in didn't hinder that comfort at all. She had half a mind to just lay down and sleep, but her mind - mixed up as it was - was too active. She cast the blankets off and turned her body, stepping down onto the floor.

The room was rectangular in shape with a tiled, granite floor and stone walls. There was a large brown rug on the opposite side of the room that covered most of the floor on that side. It stopped at the base of a dresser which was against the wall and she could see stuff, which she somehow recognized as her own, laid out on it. There were two doors in her line of sight, one was across from the dresser on the wall to the left and the other was beside the dresser, on her right. It might be best if she went to find someone who might know something, anything really, that she didn't.

As she went to stand, a sudden flash of pain shot through her head. She screamed and fell to the cold stone floor. The pain began to die down quickly, but it lingered in it's eased state. It felt as if her brain were throbbing and threatening to burst right out of her skull. The door opened and she lifted her head warily. It was an older man who's brown hair was fading to gray dressed in a blue vest, a white shirt and gray pants. He was a large man with broad shoulders and a barrel chest.

So threatening looking, yet when he spoke, he had such a softness to him. "Are you alright?" He asked and came into the room, lowering himself and touching her shoulder.

"Yes." She replied simply. She wanted to recoil from his touch, but her body didn't listen. Instead, she looked up at him, "Where... where am I?"

"Don't worry, you're safe." The man answered and smiled warmly. "My, my, I only just removed the crown and you're already up and about..."

She attempted to stand, shaking her head as the man tried to help her. The pain suddenly spiked and she grabbed her head, groaning in pain, nearly doubling over. Pitifully, she said between groans, "...head... hurts."

"Easy there." The man said, concern in his voice. "Don't push yourself. My name is Arvis and you're in my home, in Narshe. You collapsed in the mines next to the..." He paused and shook his head. "Are you okay?"

She nodded slowly.

"I can't remember a thing..."

Arvis nodded understandingly and walked to the dresser across the room. He picked up what appeared to be a small, silver circular hoop and said, "This is a Slave Crown. The others were using it to control you. Dreadful thing." Then he tossed it back onto the dresser. "It was robbing you of your thoughts, making it so you'd do whatever they told you to."

She sat back on the bed, bringing her hands to her head. "H'nn..."

"Don't worry, it'll all come back to you." Arvis said soothingly. His smile wavered a bit and he added, "In time that is."

The pain subsided suddenly as one very important thing returned to her.

"Terra." She said slowly, as if she didn't believe it herself. "My name is... Terra Brandford."

"Impressive." Arvis said and turned toward her, large arms crossing over his chest. "I've never heard of anyone recovering so quickly. You must be made of tougher stuff than most."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of several dogs barking followed by fierce pounding on a door somewhere from the front of the house. Arvis's cheerful and warming smile dropped as he turned toward front of the house, glancing out the bedroom door.

"Open up!" Someone shouted from outside. "We're here for the Magitek Armor pilot!"

"Just hand over the girl, she's an agent of the Empire!" Another bellowed.

Those words burned into Terra's mind. She winced as they rippled through her head and she raised a hand to touch her skull. The words seemed so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time; whatever they meant hovered on the edges of her mind, like a word on the tip of one's tongue. Hoping Arvis could provide the answers, she glanced up at him worriedly and repeated the words used by the men outside, "Empire? Magitek Armor?"

Arvis stared at her and bit his lip. He wanted to tell her, it was written all over his face. In the end he shook his head. Instead he walked over and tenderly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"There's no time to explain. You need to get out of here. These fools won't listen to reason." He said hurriedly and guided her toward the back door. Pausing, he opened the top dresser drawer and pulled a thick coat out of it. He grabbed her belongings off the dresser as well and handed them to her after draping the coat over her.

"Quickly," He said. "Make your way out of town through the mines, I'll try to buy you some time."

Terra didn't have any time to protest what was going on and even if she did, she had a feeling it wouldn't have mattered. So she stepped outside as Arvis opened the door and into the cold chilled air. She shivered and pulled the coat more tightly against her, folding the front halves together and began fumbling with the buttons. This house was apparently built closely against a mountain wall because there was only stone in front of her. Terra looked right then left and saw a wooden bridge to the left which led to what appeared to be a mineshaft.

Doing as instructed, Terra moved quickly and jogged toward the bridge. Her boots thumped against the wood which was swollen from it's wet, snowy environment. It was a broad, sturdy walkway though and didn't even sway in the wind or budge with Terra's foot steps. She was halfway across before she heard someone scream, "Up there!" and when she looked down, she saw that a couple of men dress in thick white coats were pointing up at her. Others turned and sprinted away toward where Terra assumed other mine shafts and cave openings were.

She too began to sprint and this time she nearly slipped on the damp planks beneath her feet. Somehow, Terra managed to avoid falling and darted through the wooden frame and into the mineshaft. Slowing to a hurried walk, she continued to move, making her way down a large, open tunnel that lead into a large cave. It would have been too dark to see, but there were metal torches lining the walls. The flames inside of them flickered and gave off plenty of light. Up ahead, the path veered right and she followed it.

The next area was much more open, more of a cave than a shaft but there was still a pathway. She found her way to a set of stairs with no rails carved into the wall which led up to an elevated area. The steps were awfully steep and Terra made her way up them very carefully. This new area had another wooden bridge connecting the pathway across body of water. It was icy cold, from the looks of it, as mist rose and danced over the slowly moving stream. Once again, there were no rails and Terra found herself moving extra slowly so she wouldn't have to take an unwanted swim.

As soon as she made it across the bridge, she heard an unpleasant clicking noise. The noise was loud enough that it echoed off the walls of the cave and that made it very difficult to tell just where it was coming from. Two rats crawled out from a hole in the wall, thin, wiry tails dragging behind them. They were abnormally large, almost as big as Terra herself, and they looked quite menacing with sharp fangs and long, sharp claws.

Worst of all was that they weren't alone.

Accompanying them was a rather plump looking man. At least, it looked like a man at first glance. It had a hunched back, and was large and stout with long, thin arms and legs that didn't look like they should support it's weight. It had pale gray skin, a small bald head and large, bulging red eyes. It was wearing what appeared to be an outfit stitched together from various other clothing materials, a mixture of green, brown and black. It carried a large hammer in it's hand, which only had three fingers.

This thing, whatever it was, appeared to be leading the rats. It made the clicking noise Terra had heard earlier and lifted it's free arm, pointing at her. The rats responded with guttural growls and began to come closer, baring their large, hideous fangs.

Wide-eyed, Terra slowly backed away, but found knew there was nowhere to go. If she turned and tried to run back across the bridge, she could only go back to Arvis's house - if she even made it that far - which was out of the question. The only way to go was forward and this trio of creature was blocking the way. A dagger had been included in her belongings and she quickly fumbled for it. When her fingers found the cold leather handle, she yanked it out of it's sheath and folded one hand over the other, grasping the weapon and holding it outwards.

"Stay back!" She yelled, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. The rats just continued to close in while their master watched.

What could she do? She didn't know how to fight! At least, she couldn't remember how to fight. Her hands trembled, dagger shaking as she continued to hold it, pointing it at the rats like it would do the work all on it's own. Just as she began to weigh the options of retreating, one of the rats suddenly charged forward. Terra's thinking process ceased and suddenly instinct took over.

Without knowing what she was doing, Terra grasped her dagger in her right hand and dove to the left, avoiding the oncoming collision. She tucked herself into a roll then turned around and sprung back at the rat before it had a chance to correct itself. She stabbed forward, grasping the dagger with both hands once again and plunged the sharp blade into the side of the rat's neck. The rat's eyes widened and Terra pulled her weapon back and out of the creature's neck. Blood poured from the wound and the over sized rodent collapsed, flailing about and made a horrible shrieking noise.

The second rat screeched and sprinted forward to avenge it's fallen partner. This time Terra waited until the rat drew closer, then suddenly stepped to the side, moving just out of the way. She swung down hard and fast, slashing her dagger at the side of the rat's neck. With surprising ease, the blade cleaved right through the tissue and the rat toppled forward, rolling onto it's back. Unlike the first, it didn't make any noises; it just violently shook and spasmed.

This left only the ring leader.

It stared at it's two fallen pets then made a series of aggressive clicking noise as it waved it's hammer about. Breath coming in pants, Terra took a step back, grasping the dagger with only her right hand. The clicking man broke into a run, moving very quickly for a creature of it's proportions. It jumped forward and swung the hammer downwards, trying to bring it down on her head. Terra moved back and avoided the oncoming blow then lashed out with her left leg, body swinging with the motion, and kicked the hammer out of the clicking man's hand.

As the hammer flew elsewhere, the clicking man turned it's body and lunged out, grasping Terra's left wrist. It's grip was just as surprising in strength as it's speed; she could feel the circulation cut off immediately and she had a feeling if it squeezed any harder, her wrist bone would snap. Terra swung the dagger down as hard as she could, slashing into the clicking man's gray skin. Unnaturally dark red blood seeped out of the wound and immediately the clicking man let go, reeling backwards.

This didn't repel it for long, however. The wound was shallow despite how hard Terra had cut and it was apparent this creature was tougher than the rats. The clicking man lunged again with it's uninjured hand, but this time Terra reacted more violently. She put all of her weight onto her left foot and spun herself around. Her feet moved quickly to carry her through the movements, turning her in a complete 360. Grasping the dagger tightly with both hands, she swung around and stabbed the sharpened metal blade into the upper section of the creature's back, burying it all the way to the hilt. The clicking man let out a horrific screech as it was pierced.

The momentum from their movements sent the clicking man stumbling forward, dark blood staining the back of it's uniform as it tried to reach back and remove the dagger that had been plunged into it. It took one step, two, three, four...

...and off of the edge. It fell forward and there was a loud splash as it hit the water. Terra panted as her adrenaline rushed, body shaking. She stared in disbelief, trying to wrap her head around the events that had just unfolded. Just what had she been before she had come to Narshe and lost her memory? The only thing she was certain of was that she wasn't normal. No, not normal at all. Normal people didn't know how to fight and kill monsters with the efficiency she had just displayed.

Taking a deep breath, Terra tried her best to calm herself down. She was both astonished and relieved at what just happened. She was alive, after all. There wasn't time to dwell on it though. She had a sickening feeling that the clicking man and his rats weren't the only ones of their kind, not to mention the guards that were searching for her. She had just lost her only weapon and she didn't know if she could fight that way with her just her fists, nor did she have any desire to find out. She turned and ran as fast as she could.

Two more bridges later, Terra found herself going up a second set of stairs and found that the cave split into two separate directions. The left lead to a dead end and the right left to more stairs. She chose the stairs and saw the path ahead turned left. As she began to turn the corner, she heard a sound that made her heart sink.

"There she is!"

Terra spun around and saw two men armed with axes running toward her. She decided against staying and fighting; if she had the capacity, she didn't want to do to these people what she had done to those beasts. She took a step back then turned around and began to run left, down the pathway she had just found. There was a doorway and she thought she could take that to escape, but two more men suddenly came from there and cut her off.

Wide-eyed and terrified, Terra began backing away, sticking her hands out in front of her.

"What are you doing?" She cried. "Leave me alone!"

"Give up, girl. We won't let this massacre go unanswered." One of the men answered.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Trying to play dumb." The man scoffed. "Don't even try, we ain't fallin' for it."

"Get back!" Terra screamed squeezed her eyes shut.

The tips of her fingers tingled and there was a warm sensation in her hands. Something was happening and she didn't understand just what. Something was building in her hands and Terra felt like she was going to lose control of whatever that thing was. She pleaded with the men who drew ever closer as she continued moving backwards, away from them, telling them to go away and leave her alone. Or else she might...

The ground beneath her back foot suddenly gave way. The whole area around her broke apart and Terra found herself falling through the air. Whatever had been building in her hands dissipated as she fell, waving her arms frantically in some moot attempt to save herself. The ground rushed up to meet her and Terra's body slammed against the stone floor hard, her head smacking against it next.

Her head hurt again. She found she couldn't open her eyes and every muscle in her body ached. Terra groaned and laid there, in far too much pain to continue fleeing.

No. She thought to herself. You need to get up. Get up and keep going. You have to.

With much effort, Terra managed to move her limbs and pushed herself up but was only able to get onto all fours before collapsing again. She tried again, but this time her body wouldn't listen to her at all. The pain in her head became more intense for a brief moment before she found herself slowly losing consciousness. Her mind desperately grabbed at anything that might keep her awake, but it was all for naught.

The whole world was hazy.

"Uwee-hee-hee! My sweet little magic user..."

Who was talking? She recognized that voice, but she didn't know why.

"With this slave crown, you'll be all mine!"

A man suddenly appeared in front of her. Terra looked up.

His face was pale white, painted over, and he had an odd assortment of make-up on. Two red rings around his eyes with streaks going back toward his ears, which she was realized were pointed. His lips, which seemed to form a perceptual (and devious) smile, had been smeared with purple and extended past his lips, stopping at his cheeks. He had long blonde hair which was pulled back, two tails sticking on on the back of his head. He wore an odd assortment of colors, all kinds; pink, purple, red, white, yellow. He also wore clashing designs, both polka dots and stripes, with a long yellow cape and a gold and purple scarf.

He had a small, silver hoop in his hands. She recognized that too, but she at least knew the name of this thing; the Slave Crown. He reached forward and placed it atop her head, which she willingly excepted.

Now her head hurt again - no. It burned. Her head burned, her brain burned, her memories themselves burned. They were being overridden, fried and destroyed as the crown began to take over. She could feel herself losing control of her body.

It was no longer hers.

It was the slave crowns; it was this man's.

He threw his head back and laughed again, a very distinct kind of laugh that burrowed into her mind despite the effects of the slave crown.

-...-

Now she was standing in a large, open room. Soldiers with swords clad in dark brown armor surrounded her. Against her will, her left arm raised and pointed at the nearest soldier. He burst into flames and screamed, sword clattering to the ground as it slipped from his grasp. Some soldiers stepped back while others charged, swords raised. Terra exhaled and everything went white.

"Uwee-hee-hee! Good, good!" The man from before screamed from somewhere far away. "Burn them! Burn them all to a crisp!"

And then he laughed again...

-...-

Outside.

She was outside.

There was a woman in front of her; long blonde hair, a white cape.

A man with dark skin and close cropped hair wearing a green cape stood beside her.

And beside him was that man; the clown man.

In front of all four of them was another man. He had long, flowing white hair and was wearing decorative black and red clothing. That man stepped forward and raised an arm.

"Soldiers of the Empire! We stand at the dawn of a new age! The lost power of magic has been returned to us! We are the chosen ones! The time has come for us to claim out rightful domain over the world! Nothing shall stand in out way!"

He roared these words and an army cheered back.

"Hurrah!"

"Long live Emperor Gesthal!"

Then the world began to turn black...

The door clicked, signalling someone was coming in.

Arvis didn't bother looking up yet. He continued to stare at his grandfather clock which was situated right beside the fire place. It was silent and the pendulum had stopped swinging. He had to reset it, it seemed.

"Lookin' to sell that old thing?" A voice asked, then added in a bit of sing-song tone, "I bet I can fetch'cha a pretty fair pri~i~ice..."

"Hmph." Arvis glanced over at his guest. "Took you long enough."

Locke Cole simply shrugged.

He was an odd man, just less than average height and wiry build. He had straight, shaggy light brown hair that was cut shorter in the front than the back and a pair of light gray eyes. He dressed in a mixture of mostly dark colors; a low-cut white, short sleeved shirt was the only contrast to these. Over this was a dark blue shirt with a high-rising collar which was decorated with a crescent on each sleeve, pointing downwards, which a circle in the middle. The sleeves of this shirt were rolled up past his elbows and he had on a pair of trousers which were the same shade as his over shirt. A thick leather belt was fastened around his waist and a couple of things were attached to this belt; two weapons - a short sword and a dagger - and a large pouch filled with tools for his trade, Arvis assumed.

A pair of leather boots covered his feet, strapped tightly into buckles and a pair of fingerless leather gloves protected his hands, though these came and went with every appearance Locke made. Lastly, there was his trademark bandanna, which never failed to appear. Usually it was worn one of three ways; completely over his head, rolled into a headband and worn as such, or it was around his neck. This time it was the last of the three.

"Busy with all the robbing and plundering, I presume?" Arvis asked with a smirk.

Locke frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, eyes narrowing. As he spoke, his voice had a bit of an edge, "I prefer the term "treasure hunting"."

Arvis grinned. "Ha! Hahaha!" He bellowed. "Semantic nonsense!"

"There's a huge difference!" Locke insisted and stomped his foot in defiance. Arvis almost found it hard to believe the man in front of him was twenty-four years old.

Locke huffed and leaned against the wall, still glaring at Arvis. "Anyways, isn't there something you needed me to do? I wouldn't have come back if it didn't sound urgent what with those Imperial goons being here and all."

"Mm, indeed." Arvis nodded. "I'm thankful that you didn't make it very far, or my runner never would have caught up to you." For a moment, the miner paused. "I... met a girl."

Locke's expression immediately changed, becoming uncharacteristically serious. "You don't mean..?"

Arvis nodded his head, "The city guard is pursuing her as we speak. I tried to convince them she is not our enemy, but they would not listen, those hard headed fools."

Locke shrugged again. "I don't blame them. I wouldn't exactly welcome someone who slaughtered my buddies with no remorse."

"Hmph. She was being controlled by the Empire against her will. She woke up and had no memory of what happened once I removed the Slave Crown. This, too, I tried to tell them, but they are too blinded by their vengeance to listen to reason."

"Mm..." Was Locke's response.

Arvis continued. "This town is no match for the Empire. If there was any doubt, I can say with much certainty that those doubts have been put to rest tonight. It took only three people to tear through the bulk of our defenses and they even killed Ymir, who was our trump card. The only hope that this town has of survival is joining up the Returners, but the people here are too stubbornly independent, their ability to reason clouded by that flimsy agreement of neutrality and the belief that the environment will protect them. As remorseful as I am for the loss of those men tonight, I can only hope this will lift the fog of illusion that the town has been so lost in."

"I knew I should have just ignored your runner's cries and left." Locke said, followed by a sigh. "I'll go and help her. I decided that before you even gave me the sob story."

Arvis smiled. He knew he could count on Locke of all people for a mission such as this.

"You want me to take her out of Narshe, right?"

"That's the idea. You should make your way to Figaro for the time being."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll just looove our new friend." Locke said, rolling his eyes with a laugh.

"Indeed..." Arvis agreed, chuckling himself.

"Well, if the guard's after her, I should get a move on, I suppose." Locke said, tugging on his bandanna. "Front or back?"

"She went out the back."

Locke nodded then turned and began walking toward the back door. Arvis shot him an odd look and asked, "You're not going to take your jacket?"

"Nah." Locke replied without looking back. "It ain't so cold that I can't handle it. 'Sides, it'll only slow me down. Just pack it on a Chocobo, we'll need 'em if we wanna get to Figaro quickly."

"Understood."

"I'll see ya when I see ya, Arvis." Locke glanced back and smiled.

"You too, Locke."

Then he opened the door and stepped out. The door shut and Arvis let out a breath. He walked back over the grandfather clock and reached up to the top, grabbing the key that was there. He opened the clock and begun to wind the device back up.

Locke was that girl's only hope now. It had been half an hour since she departed and what remained of the guards were mobilizing. Narshe's guards were nothing particularly special, mostly just a ragtag bunch of men, young and old, who were skilled hunters and loved their town enough to fight - and die - for it. They had little to no real combat experience and only the bare minimal training.

All except one.

Clive was the one to be worried about. A former Imperial soldier himself, he was the Captain of the guards of Narshe and claimed to have left the army because he disagreed with their tactics. While Arvis believed him, he also believed that it wasn't because the Imperials were too harsh. Clive was the type of man who had too much time and not enough morality. It had been his idea to weaponize the wildlife of Narshe, to compensate for the lack of real military prowess. While he inspired the men of the guard, he made Arvis and many of the other townsfolk uneasy. There wasn't much they could do, though; Clive was the best defense they had.

Arvis believed in Locke, but he also believed Clive was ruthless enough to be a challenge; a challenge Locke may not be able to overcome if he underestimated him.

With the grandfather clock wound again, Arvis adjusted the hands. It was late, closer to eleven than to ten. He reached forward and tapped the pendulum and the clock started ticking as it started up again. As the hands ticked along, Arvis stared at the face of the clock. Time was the enemy here and he wasn't just referring to the immediate situation. He was a man past his prime, too old to take up arms and join this fight despite how intimidating he must have looked with his large build and rough appearance.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Arvis whispered, "Godspeed, Locke."

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Times were changing.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

But he couldn't be certain whether this was for better.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Or for worse.

Author's Note: Wow, I am so much happier with the way this turned out than I thought it would.

Originally, this chapter was to be much longer. I was going to include the whole fight between Lock and the Captain (aka Clive) as well as Locke and Terra's meeting and departure to Narshe, but I felt like I was taking too long to write all of that out so I've decided to leave that for the next chapter. That means it'll most likely be shorter than the first two, but we'll see. I do love writing out my action scenes and I think I'll have fun tackling the Moogles.

Thanks for dropping by and reading, and remember, I'd really appreciate it if you dropped a review!