Looking Down From Cerulean Skies
Awakening
A/N: Revised as of 7/19/2015. I've been working on newer chapters for the past few months, and I have the plot points for the next ten chapters complete now. Expect updates very soon! Hopefully I can get on a weekly update schedule.
The screams and gunshots were heard all throughout Narshe. The sounds filled the citizens with a chilling fear that their town would finally be destroyed.
But when the rumbling footfalls retreated in the direction of the mines north of town, and no buildings were leveled, many townspeople ventured out of their homes to investigate the invasion. The men were armed with their best hunting rifles, and were quite jumpy when they heard anything that sounded like an explosion coming from the mines.
One middle aged man named Arvis stuck to his window panes with his small spyglass to survey the scene. He saw his fellow townspeople jump back when they came across the remains near the town gates. He cringed when the general store owner turned away from the bodies with a greenish hue to his face.
After an hour of watching and waiting, Arvis saw that the Imperials in their foreboding oversized suits of armor had not left the coal mining town. There was only one way out of the mines as of late, and unless the Imperials blasted holes in the side of the mountain to get out, they were still in the mines.
Something was keeping them, and judging from how easily and swiftly they entered Narshe; they should have returned to town by then.
Arvis was resolute, and went into his kitchen to grab his woolen coat and scarf. He slipped his spyglass into a pocket along with the black knife he used for hunting. Arvis went out the backdoor to avoid any unwanted eyes and climbed carefully down the wooden and stone platform behind the shop next door. His feet touched down behind one of the big brass and copper boilers that kept the town warm, and with a peek around the wheezing machine, Arvis was satisfied to set off into the mines.
He followed the carved out path of artificial steps and dodged the support beams jutting out of the rock walls from other mined out caverns, and found that the large footsteps left by the Magitek Armor in the snow went into the newest mineshaft at the end of the path.
Arvis had not been able to see the oddity the miners had unearthed because they cut off access to the public, and the prospect of seeing the rumored fossil made his heart pound like a hammer on damp cloth.
The mine was dimly lit by a few torches that threatened to snuff out at any time. Arvis picked his way along due to the tools that lay abandoned on the cave floor. He continued deeper into the mineshaft, avoiding the rats the best he could, and came to what was once a wooden gate.
Splintered wood lay on the ground. It was becoming harder for the man to see, but he heard the wood crunch under his boots. Farther along, he felt his boot slide on some sort of squishy substance.
"What on earth?" he wondered out loud to himself, squinting at the ground. He could barely make out slime left by something as he steadied himself from falling.
Frowning, he looked ahead, hoping to see a sign of life. Instead, he saw the esper encased in ice. It glowed softly, putting out a little light to see by.
Arvis could not draw his eyes away from the being as he approached. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, let alone anything he could imagine. It was drawing him in, telling something inside him to come closer. His nose burned from the cold and something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
Look down.
He did, and saw a girl with a strange hair color shivering and unconscious on the ground just one step away.
"Oh! I almost stepped on you!" he exhaled, flustered from the strangeness of the situation. Without thinking, Arvis picked up the young woman, spotted a bag that looked like it belonged to her a few feet away, and with a last long look at the frozen esper, he hurried back to his house.
Once Arvis was back inside his home, he stamped his feet on the mat and carried the girl to his bed.
He laid her down on the mattress gently, being careful not to wake her with a start, and sat her bag on the floor near the bed.
"How extraordinary it is that you have green hair!" he chuckled, wondering aloud if it was dyed.
The girl did not let out a single noise of protest as he tucked her in. Her body shivered for a few minutes before it finally relaxed, and the redness of her nose and cheeks diminished soon. Her head drooped over on its side on the feather pillows, and something caught Arvis's eye.
It was shiny, with jewels that smoldered in the candlelight.
"What's this?" he touched the circlet tenderly, afraid he would break it if he handled it roughly.
"This cannot be comfortable to wear in bed," he said to the girl, deciding to slip it off for her. He removed the crown easily enough, and set it on the bedside table next to the candlesticks.
Something in his mind clicked; he knew what the circlet was. A sickening feeling washed over him upon realizing what the circlet was, and he swore under his breath. Arvis looked over at the circlet and saw that it seemed to grow more menacing the more he looked at it.
A groan came from the girl's mouth then, along with a grimace as she adjusted herself in her sleep. Arvis touched her forehead lightly, but retracted it with a jerk. His hand felt like he just stuck it on a boiling tea kettle.
"What on earth?" Arvis knelt down next to her and saw that her skin had drained of color and no drops of sweat beaded on her face.
The man jumped to his feet and went quickly to his writing desk in the living room. He unlocked it and started shuffling through papers until the letter he was looking for came into view. The letters were scrawled on the page roughly and confirmed his suspicions.
"Arcell saw the girl we heard about from our contact in Albrook. She torched fifty Imperial soldiers within minutes under General Kefka's command."
The girl lying in Arvis's bed had created a massacre of her fellow soldiers. She was the weapon that Gestahl had been keeping under lock and key.
Arvis went to brew some tea in the kitchen. She would need it when she woke up. He set out a pair of mugs on the kitchen table, all the while chuckling to himself. He was keeping an Imperial in his house, and he was going to offer her a cup of tea no less! Banon would have a laugh about it when he found out. But opportunities like this do not come along very often, and he must grab at them when he can.
"Excuse me, but where am I?" a soft whispery voice asked from behind Arvis, causing him to jump and nearly drop the sugar bowl on the hardwood floor. The girl stood in the doorway, eyes wide with fright and confusion as they darted from Arvis to objects around the room.
"Oh, you're finally awake!" Arvis smiled.
He gestured to a chair at the table, "Please sit down; I'm making some tea for us."
She moved stiffly with her arms wrapped around her chest and sat down. Arvis poured the tea for them both and sat a big steaming mug down in front of the girl.
"To answer your question, you are in the coal mining town called Narshe. My name is Arvis, and I found you in the mines unconscious." Arvis stirred some cream into his cup and tasted it with a spoon.
Her eyebrows knit together as she stared down at her mug without making a move to drink any of it.
"Do you know how I got here?" she cast her green eyes up to his face expectantly. She wanted to ask more, like why she woke up in his house, why her head hurt so badly, and most of all; she wanted to know why she couldn't recall a single thing from before she woke up.
"Do you not remember anything?" Arvis countered, his eyebrows rising up. He did not know what had passed in the mines, but it must have been pretty bad to affect her memory. Or perhaps her memory loss was a side effect of the slave crown.
The girl shook her head slowly but stopped after a moment, a look of realization appeared on her face.
"My name! I remember my name, it is Terra," she replied, her voice rising in volume slightly in her excitement.
"That's a wonderful name, Terra! I've never heard of somebody with amnesia recalling their name so quickly. You must be made of tougher stuff than most."
Terra felt a bit better now that she remembered her name and ventured a sip of the tea Arvis had sat in front of her. It had a smooth flavor, and almost immediately she knew what kind it was and that she liked it with cream and sugar.
"This is Figaroan black tea, isn't it?" she gingerly picked up the cream bowl and spooned some into her mug. Her back ached when she extended her arm, so she tried to move in such a way as to avoid making her hands shake from the pain.
"Indeed it is. My, you seem to be recovering pretty quickly." He pushed the sugar bowl towards Terra as she was reaching for it and stood from his seat.
"I think a bit of food is in order now. I bet you're famished, huh?" Terra nodded more vigorously than she meant to as Arvis went to the pantry and withdrew a loaf of bread.
Along with the bread he put out a bit of fresh butter, a jar of jam, and a hunk of white cheese on the table near Terra. He sliced her a few pieces of the bread and left her to eat as much as she pleased while he went into the other room.
He scribbled a few lines on to a sheet of paper explaining what had happened and tied it up neatly so he could send it off with a carrier pigeon once the coast was clear of guards and inquiring eyes. Arvis took a peek out of one of the front windows and saw sentries going from house to house.
"So they finally caught on…" The man sighed and went back into the bedroom to retrieve Terra's bag and the slave crown. While he was at it, he pulled the hunting knife from his pocket and got the light shield from the wall where it hung.
When he returned to the kitchen Terra was spreading butter on another piece of bread and cut herself a piece of cheese to go on top. As she chewed, her eyes followed Arvis as he went to his cupboards and pantries and stuffed food into a mauve travel bag.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and instantly wished that she hadn't been so nosy. She wasn't exactly sure why she thought that it would be nosy to ask such a thing, and took note to figure out why when she had the chance.
Arvis tucked some bread and apples in wax paper before putting them in the bag, "After you finish eating, you've got to leave. The guards are coming for you, I'm afraid."
"What?"
"I don't have much time to explain, but you'll be okay. I'm sending a good friend of mine after you to keep you safe." Arvis sat the pack down on the table next to Terra's plate.
"But why are the guards after me? Did I steal something? Do I not have permission to be in this town?" she forgot all about her food and stood shakily, frightened at the prospect of being taken prisoner.
Arvis showed her the slave crown. At first she merely looked at it curiously, and even reached out to touch it, but withdrew her hand quickly as if she had been stung. Pain rushed into her sinuses and a cold voice floated into her mind. It made her want to run, cry, vomit, anything but be near that crown, and for the life of her, she had no idea why.
"This is a slave crown, Terra. You were an Imperial soldier for Emperor Gestahl, and he was using this crown to control you completely," Arvis put the crown on the counter and rubbed Terra's arm calmingly. She shrugged away, not wanting to be touched. She simply could not stop shaking.
From the other side of the front door came a sequence of hard knocks on the wood, "We know you're home Arvis! Give us the girl now! She's an officer of the Empire and we need to take her into custody!" Terra's head jerked in the direction of the door and cringed back. Everything was happening too fast. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks.
Arvis swore under his breath, "We gotta get you out of here earlier than I thought, Terra." He gave her a glass bottle filled with water and helped her put her pack on her slim shoulders. He pulled her into the bedroom and instructed her to put her boots on while he found a cloak to keep her warm. Once it was fastened in place and with knife and shield in hand, Arvis sent her out the backdoor.
"I'll keep these guys busy while you escape! Make your way through the mines. My friend will be along very soon!" and with that Terra was left alone in the alley behind Arvis's house deeply confused and frightened.
Terra staggered on the uneven ground, her boots slipping slightly on the icy path as she took a step. She blinked hard to adjust her vision in the dark alley.
"What did I do?" she wondered, putting a hand against the side of Arvis's house to keep her balance as she walked to the bridge at the end of the backstreet. Arvis hadn't told her much of anything other than she was being pursued. What had she done to these people to illicit such a violent and fervent response?
Her cloak, however warm it was being made of wool, was not enough to keep her from trembling. Her short skirt that stopped above her knees was not in any way suited for the chilling temperatures. Perhaps the dress was meant for warmer climates.
As she neared the end of Arvis' house, she could hear shouting inside, or rather, arguing.
"She is an officer of the Empire! She barreled through our town riding Magitek Armor!" a gruff voice roared.
"Magitek Armor?" the words puzzled Terra further as she unintentionally stopped to listen for a moment. Those words made a feeling of disgust rise in her throat and conjured up flashes of what she assumed to be memories. The control panels that were cold to the touch, the loud thunking noise that came every time the machine took a step and the bright flames that issued out of a hole in the front of the machine. Each made Terra's stomach squirm around the food she had eaten only moments before, threatening to come back up.
More yelling issued from the house, making the hair of Terra's neck stand on end. She tried to ignore it as she continued on and reached the beginning of the bridge suspended on ropes. The planks of wood looked worn in some places, but she would try to avoid those when she came to them.
The green haired woman peered down at Narshe from around the corner, finding it to look like a pleasant place to live, despite the cold. She let out a teeth-chattering shiver, taking in the pale light from the street lamps, the chugging and grinding noises coming from the engines that let out puffs of steam, and the simple, yet handsome architecture. Narshe guards bustled around below in the streets, all soliciting houses, looking for her, from what she could hear.
She had to hurry or else the time that Arvis bought her would be for nothing, so she took a timid step on to the bridge. Each step she took sounded ten times louder in her ears, as if the steps were signaling to the guards, "Up here! Look! She's here!"
Terra's heart pounded in her ears and her chest seized as she moved carefully across the planks of wood. A look down at the ground many, many yards below made her vision go double, so she avoided glancing down as much as she could. She neared the middle of the hanging bridge when a guard spotted her silhouette against the dark sky.
"Hey! There she is!" he shouted, pointing as his fellow guards ran to his side. Terra froze in place, her stomach flipped when she heard them clamoring below. Oh no.
"Let's find a way up there, men!" another guard commanded. The men ran off to sound the alarm and gather the rest of the guards for pursuit.
Terra scurried across the remaining half of the bridge, not paying any attention to the rotten parts which gave away when trod on. She ran into the entrance of the mine, and did not stop until it became too dark for her to see past her own nose.
"Gosh, what do I do now?" she squeaked, panting as she leaned back against the rock wall behind her. Without a thought, Terra raised her left hand, focused for a second, and a small fire appeared in her palm. She attached her shield to her pack securely and tucked the hunting knife in one of the scarves tied around her waist.
"At least I can see where I'm going now. Which way should I go, though?" she wondered out loud, her voice echoing off the rocks. The flame she made helped her calm down as she decided to keep walking until the person Arvis said he would send arrived.
"If I stay put, those guards will find me quicker. Maybe I'll run into that person sometime soon..."
Terra went down a corridor with rats that skittered around her feet and torches that looked long burnt out on the walls. She kicked at the rats when they crossed her path, and eventually came to a small bridge that crossed a deep chasm in the ground.
When she got across the bridge, she came to a forked corridor that did not look like either one was a better choice than the other. Terra puzzled over which path to take when she heard voices coming from somewhere close by in the mines. The voices were magnified by the echoes, but sounded close enough that she could even hear footsteps coming closer on the ground.
She bolted down one path at random; her flame flickered wildly as she ran. Terra wished over and over for the help from Arvis to come sooner.
The voices grew louder the farther she went, and shadows appeared on the walls around a bend in the path.
"There she is! We found the bitch!" an older guard cried, issuing whoops of victory from his comrades.
"Come 'ere!" another guard raged, moving towards her aggressively with a spear in hand.
"No!" she cried, turning to run back the way she came, but found another throng of guards waiting for her. Terra shrieked as she was cornered, her legs shook as she backed up to the rock wall and her little flame went out with a puff of gray smoke.
Before the men could even grab her curly hair, the ground gave away with a deafening groan, sending Terra plummeting down to the level below. She landed on her knees, with her stomach and face following in painful succession. Rocks and debris showered down upon her back.
Cries of anger and disappointment floated into her ears as she tried moving, crawling a few feet forwards before the pain blossomed into her senses. Bubbles of darkness started flooding her vision as her body started issuing sparks of lime green light that bobbed in the air a moment before absorbing back into her. Her wounded limbs started healing as all of her energy was drained away from the strain of casting such spells.
Terra's body still cast her spells as her mind blanked out, and darkness took over.
Fire enveloped her vision. The smell of scorched wood filled her nostrils as she rode past. The metallic clanking of her Magitek Armor rang out in the strangely quiet village. Dead bodies came into her view. Some were split in half, their insides spilling out into the dirt.
Some were mangled so badly their eyes remained the only part untouched. The corpses stared at her as she approached, and continued staring when she crushed their legs and chests with the leg structures of her armor. Blood flowed through the streets, mixing with the scent of smoke and made her cough in disgust.
Everybody in the village was dead. And she was the cause. A man with a blond ponytail and face makeup pulled up beside her in his Magitek Armor, cackling at the carnage while she struggled with herself to scream. Nothing came from her mouth.
"What a wonderful little killer you are, my dear! You slaughtered every sad little cockroach in this pathetic place in less than five minutes. That's a new record! The Emperor will certainly be pleased with you," the man snorted, looking at her like he would some delicacy.
"Empy Gesty might even take that crown off of you for an evening! What's that look for?" he glared at her, frowning. Her face was contorted with grief and anger. She wanted to stop doing this. She wanted to be free.
"Looks like good ole Doctor Cid will have to check that crown of yours. Maybe adjust it to make the effects stronger. We can't have you making faces and thinking, now can we?"
As Terra drifted on the edge of her consciousness, hearing that high-pitched male voice echoing the words over and over until it finally dissolved. Tears ran from her eyes as she made a futile attempt to escape it, only to black out completely.
A group of moogles were foraging in the Narshe mines for food when they came upon a young woman, broken, on the ground. She was shivering slightly, her mint green hair was matted with dried blood, cuts and bruises covered her skin, and her breath came slowly and irregularly. The largest moogle, their leader, went to her side and patted her shoulder softly, as if comforting her. The other moogles joined him, all patting her with their stubby little fur covered paws.
"Kupo, kup, ku-ku!" the leader squeaked, his little violet wings fluttering as he spoke. His friends all hopped, drifting slowly back down to the ground due to their flapping wings, and scurried off to do as he requested. The large moogle remained and, nuzzled his face against the girl's hair in a parting gesture before scurrying off to find somebody to help her.
A knock came from the back door as Arvis paced in front of his roaring fireplace. He had just added fresh logs to the fire, and checked his pocket watch. It was about three in the morning, and it had been a couple of hours since he had last seen Terra. He had not heard any word from the town's citizens of the guards finding her, so she still had time. He went to let in who he hoped was his friend instead of another horde of the Narshe guards. The knock was quick and not thunderous like the ones his door received earlier on.
And upon seeing that the visitor was his comrade, he gave the boy a smack to the back of his head as he entered.
"Locke, you're late! Have you any idea what's been going on tonight?" Arvis fumed, stomping back into his sitting room, the younger man following behind him.
Locke scratched at his head, shrugged and handed Arvis a note that could not be trusted with carrier pigeons. The older man read it quickly, letting out a nasty curse.
"This is about a day late."
"Look, I'm sorry! Would you mind telling me what the hell's goin' on? Banon hands me that note yesterday and now you're not telling me what's happenin'. You people aren't good at explaining things," Locke huffed, shoving his hands into his dark blue jacket.
"The Empire sent Magitek Armored soldiers here to take the frozen esper. They killed many guards in the process, and now everybody's in a panic over whether they will attack again. Two of the soldiers haven't been found, yet, and one, a young woman, has escaped into the mines. I helped her and fed her before the remaining guards came to take her. They want to kill her and this is not her fault!" Arvis picked up the slave crown from the mantle and thrust it at Locke. The young man's eyes grew wide upon seeing the device.
"We have to help her, don't we?" Locke asked, still staring at the slave crown.
Arvis nodded, setting it back on the mantle.
"If you could take some time out of your plundering and thieving to go find her and take her to Figaro castle, everybody in the Returners would appreciate it."
"All right, I'll send word to you when I can," Locke replied, going back to the door to leave. As he was closing the door he called, "And I'm a treasure hunter! Sheesh!"
Arvis shook his head as he sat down to write yet another note to send to Banon.
"Thief my ass..." Locke grumbled as he strode into the mineshaft where the girl apparently escaped. Luckily for him, he was not spotted as he went across the bridge because the guards remaining at the town gates were too busy reinforcing it against another attack. He did not want get caught by the Narshe guards because they were still sore at him for "borrowing" their supplies without asking.
He took a matchbook out of his pocket, and struck a match to light up a torch. The fire light reached well enough for him to see a few yards ahead of him.
He followed the pathways in the caves, moving quickly to find her before the guards did.
"Gods, I can't believe we're helping a defected Imperial soldier. Kefka's old toy no less! I hope she stays defected…" he muttered to himself as he crossed a small bridge.
Something made scuffling noises behind him, causing Locke to turn sharply, anticipating a monster. He did not see anything but his own shadow flitting along the rock walls.
"I know I heard something..."
He shook his head, chalking it up to rats, and continued on his way with his ears trained on any sound that wasn't his own footsteps. Locke jumped when he heard the noises again, turning his head every which way to find the source, but never saw anything more than a rat chattering along the ground.
Unbeknownst to him, a moogle was following him around out of curiosity. The moogle thought that the strange man with bandanas tied around his head might be trying to find the girl who was wounded. After watching the man for a while and seeing that he was different from the loud men with spears and guns from earlier, the moogle let out a "kupo!" and hurried away to find his fellow moogles. They would be happy that he had found somebody to help so soon.
Locke came to a large hole in the ground that was still crumbling along the sides as if it had been formed very recently.
"Maybe she fell down there," he wondered, moving cautiously to the edge and tried shining some light into the darkness to see if he was right. He could not see a thing, much to his dismay.
"Looks like I'll have to get down there and see. This isn't gonna be good for my knees."
Without any hesitation, the thief dropped himself down the hole, bracing himself for the shock when he landed on his feet. Pain surged up his legs once his feet connected with the ground. He groaned painfully as he tried to straighten up.
"At least I didn't fall on my behind. Yeesh, that smarts!" he said, and noticed that his torch was still ablaze. He scanned the ground around him, seeing the large chunks of rock from the level above, the crumbles of dirt everywhere, and the mint haired young woman lying on her front at a somewhat awkward angle.
The thief went to her side quickly, checking the pulse in her neck, and was relieved to discover that her heartbeat was still going strong.
"She's only knocked out," he moved her gently over so that her legs were not in such a crumpled position. Locke recognized the part of the mine they were in, and remembered hiding out there during his youth.
"Well, let's get cha outta here before the dimwits show up!" he said to the unconscious woman as he started to try picking her up. He was a bit conflicted about the whole business, but she was helpless at the moment. And he figured that if she did try to get back to the Empire, at least he could stash her in Figaro. Figaro wouldn't try to execute her like Narshe would undoubtedly. They could learn a lot from the woman once she woke up.
Just then, the sound of boots clomping and angry male voices echoed throughout the cave.
"Oh shit."
"There's the Imperial Witch! Get her!" the leader of the guards commanded as he caught sight of Locke trying to pick her up.
"Great, they're all here," Locke spat sarcastically, setting the girl back down gently and put a hand over his dagger.
"Kupo!" came from behind him. He spun around, and saw a group of moogles all regarding at him with their wings flapping. The largest moogle came forwards with a spear in his little paw, and motioned Locke to the guards.
"Wha? You guys wanna help?"
All of the moogles wiggled their antennae and hopped in confirmation.
"Thanks! You guys came at the right time!"
A moogle shoved Locke back around to get him to focus on the guards who were advancing on them fast.
Narshe was one of the only major cities that trained the native monsters to fight for them, which made their defenses that much stronger. Other than the very harsh climate that Narshe rested in, the creatures were formidable in their own right. Wolf-like creatures with dark silver fur called lobos leaped and snarled as the moogles fought. Several moogles wielded spears and swords that came from who-knows-where attacked the lobos ferociously in return for the wolves clawing and biting at them.
Locke joined a group of moogles that were fighting a large fur covered elephant that held control over blizzards. It cast its spell, causing needles of ice strike to the group, slashing and cutting into their flesh. One moogle jumped on top of the mammoth with his sword raised high before he brought it down hard into the back of the beast.
Two more moogles dashed forwards with their spears and started tearing into the mammoth where they could reach. Locke didn't want the moogles to have all of the fun, so he ran at the mammoth and started slicing at its face, making the beast cry out even more. It reared back on its hind legs, knocking the moogle riding it off, and fell on its side with a thundering crash.
"Great job!" Locke called to the moogles, giving them a thumbs-up as he ran to a Narshe guard who was coming up with his spear out, dodged the man's attack, and slit his throat as he slipped behind him. The thief snatched a tonic from the man's pocket as he fell, chugged it and put the empty bottle in his pocket as he went up against a group of five guards battling two moogles. One of the moogles threw a bladed boomerang at a guard, making him fall over bleeding.
Locke jumped on the closest guard and started stabbing his chest before the man could act. His comrades fell under the hands of the moogles, and soon there was only one enemy left: the guard Marshal.
As Locke was starting to go after the Marshal, the largest moogle pranced up to him almost innocently, ducked a swipe of his blade, and started dancing. The Narshe Marshal looked confused as the moogle danced around him, and a strange aura appeared. Then, boulders fell from the ceiling at an alarming rate, and they were all focused on the Marshal. The man screamed as he was squashed under the weight of the rocks, and the moogle finally stopped.
The thief's jaw dropped, eyes bulging at what he had just witnessed. The moogle scampered back to his friends like a cute little puppy, and squeaked, "Kupo kupo!"
The moogle all danced in victory for a moment, until a smaller one pointed back at the unconscious woman they had been protecting. Locke nodded at the moogles as he wiped his forehead.
He went back to the woman, picked her up bridal style, and called back to the creatures, "Thank you, moogles! I'm in your debt! You guys are amazing!"
They all hopped happily as Locke carried the girl through a path that went down a corridor with torches lit already, and down some stone steps. He reached the end of the path and sat the young woman down on the ground with her back against the wall. She started stirring when her body adjusted against the rock.
Locke went to work with a hidden switch he had made several years before, slipping his fingers into slight grooves in the wall and pressed against the small lever. A click came from the wall, signaling that it had been activated.
He saw that the woman he had just saved was rubbing her temples slowly with her eyes closed.
"You're back with us now?" he asked, causing her eyes to snap open. She trained her gaze on Locke's face unsteadily before wincing in pain.
"Uh, who are you?" she rubbed at her eyes next with bruised hands.
"Call me Locke. Arvis sent for me to help you. Luckily for both of us the moogles came in the nick of time to fend off the guards." Locke crouched down next to her.
"Oh! Thank you, Locke, I'm Terra," she replied, trying to stand up while supporting herself against the wall. Locke lent an arm to help her steady herself, which she took gratefully.
"That must have been a doozy, falling like that. Are you able to walk?" he asked, letting her keep his arm for support. She tried a step without any trouble, and nodded.
"I think I'm fine. I just feel really tired," she took another step and did not stumble like Locke thought she might.
"My head is spinning; can we rest here for a moment?" Terra requested, to which Locke nodded with a kind smile. Terra clutched her head with her free hand, sighing.
"Darn, I still can't remember anything..."
"What? You have amnesia?"
"That's what it's called? That man who helped me before, Arvis? He told me that my memory would come back in time," she looked at Locke meekly. He seemed to be distracted by a thought or something. Locke caught her gaze after a moment and shook his head of whatever was bothering him.
"Arvis is right. But don't you worry, Terra! I'll protect you until your memory returns. I promise, alright?" Locke told her, his eyes serious.
"We had better get out of here before anybody else comes after you, okay? Come on!" Locke grabbed her hand as he showed her his secret passage that led them outside of the town.
Terra felt some of her strength coming back as they walked, and soon did not need Locke's arm to lean on whenever she felt dizziness rushing back to her. Her bag bounced on her back and her cloak fluttered around her as the wind picked up and snow fell from the sky.
She was still very cold due to her clothing, but did not shiver as badly as she had before.
The duo descended down the mountain at a quick pace. Terra saw scrubby vegetation sprouting from the icy ground the farther down they went. She felt the names for the plants forming in her mind as they passed them by.
When the first tree appeared on the horizon, Locke ran to it and hopped up into its branches. Terra got to the tree and looked up to see him pulling a worn leather travel pack down from the foliage.
"What are you doing?"
"I had to hide my bag here because I didn't want to get slowed down by this thing. It's kinda heavy at times," he explained, settling the bag on his back and hopped down by Terra's side.
"I see. So, where are we going?" Terra finally thought to ask as they set off again down towards a heavily wooded valley.
"We're going to Figaro castle in the desert. Me and Arvis think that it will be a good place for us to hide for a few days. When I receive word from the Returners, then we'll go to the hideout."
"Wait, what are the Returners?" Terra felt curious, and slowed down her pace as she tried to process everything she was told.
"They're a resistance movement against the Empire. I'm Arvis's contact with the group. I bring him news and stuff like that." Locke slowed down to match Terra. The words just escaped his mouth before he could stop gabbing. He didn't mean to be so casual with his info. But Locke didn't feel like this woman would want to crawl back to the Empire anytime soon. His gut instincts were usually right in that sense…he hoped.
Terra did not say anything more, and continued on with Locke, deep in thought.
The Empire was looking for her. The Narshe guards wanted to kill her. And now the Returners seemed interested in her for whatever reason. If only she could remember more, then she wouldn't feel so confused about all that was going on. Where did she fit into all of it exactly?
The small party continued walking through the forests for the rest of that morning, stopping every now and then for a short rest because Terra was still rather weak.
The forests were calm that day, and the skies were clear, unlike in Narshe. Sunlight streamed down through the tree branches in bright beams where specks of pollen sparkled as they floated in the air. The ground was thick with dark green grasses, shrubs that were in bloom, and rich moss. Whenever Locke and Terra rested, Terra would sit down on a patch of spongy moss and run her fingers across it like it was a plush carpet. She would also relish the way her skin felt when the sun hit it. Her entire body warmed up and stayed at a cozy temperature.
Locke gave her a tonic to drink as they rested to help give her strength back. In return, Terra gave Locke a hunk of the white cheese and bread Arvis provided her with.
He thanked her and ate eagerly, "Haven't had cheese in a couple of weeks!" Terra nodded as she chewed a piece of bread slowly. She felt her energy returning slightly.
"We can have apples for supper tonight with some dried meat I've been saving," he explained between swallows. The thief stood and let her know where he was going for a moment. The girl took a long drink from her water bottle and waited for Locke to return from the bush a few yards away.
After they gathered their things and continued through the forest, an image floated into Terra's hazy mind. It was of a bright day in a field with high grasses and rows upon rows of soldiers in brown armor. They were marching swiftly in front of a flank of Magitek Armor. She was a pilot in one of the cockpits.
"Yoo-hoo, you alright there?" Locke's voice snapped her out of the scene in her head with a start.
"What's wrong? You look frightened," the thief touched her shoulder gingerly, and let his hand rest on there when she didn't draw away.
"I remembered something I think." Terra said evenly in her soft voice, her eyes trained on Locke's face.
"Oh?"
"I know what Magitek Armor is now."