Terra awoke with a start, the afterimage of the flames still dying in her mind's eye, and got out of the bed. The cave was still, and the slightest sound seemed to echo forever in it's depths. She hefted the pack, took a skin of water and a small packet of hard bread, and gingerly opened the door.

Edgar was seated against the wall, asleep, his breath coming slow and even. Terra gingerly stepped past him and, as quietly as she could, hurried into the heart of the Returner's headquarters.

The cavern the Returners had built their base in had dozens of small, high galleries like the one she found herself in, and those galleries were riven with fissures leading outside. Most were barely large enough to let air and sunlight in, but some - like the one she standing before now - were big enough. Barely.

She looked out the narrow crack in the rock wall. It would be tight, but she would be able to fit out there and flee. Run far away. Maybe east. She had no reason to think that there was anything there for her, but something felt right. Like it was calling her there.

Behind her, she could hear a commotion; someone - Edgar, most likely - had discovered she was gone. She didn't have much time; they would be looking for her.

She had just slipped a shoulder through the crack when someone behind cleared their throat. She whipped her head around quickly and winced as she clipped an outcropping of rock. Her vision blurred for an instant before it focused on a massive man leaning nonchalantly against the gallery's entrance.

"You alright?" the man asked, his voice reverberating in the granite chamber.
"Sabin, I..." Terra's voice trailed off as she looked at the older man. A flash of worry went through her as he shifted, and the sad smile that he gave her did little to calm that sense.

"Don't worry," he said softly. "I'm not here to stop you." He took a step toward her and nodded to the crack in the wall. "I did that once. Ran, I mean. I get it. I just wanted you to know that whatever you decide, Ed, Locke, and me'll be alright with it. Bannon didn't have any right to lay that on you like he did."

Terra stared at Sabin and shook her head slowly. "You're right," she said as she watched the bearded man roll his massive shoulders. "He didn't have any right to tell me that way, but I...I've been remembering things like that, and..."

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want, Terra," he said as he shook his head slowly. "That's not why I'm here."

"Then why did you come here, Sabin?"
"Well," he looked away and it was a long moment before he met her gaze again. "Well, Ed's got us looking all over hell and gone for you, so I figured I should at least tell him why you went."

Terra's gaze narrowed at the mention of Edgar's name, and Sabin laughed loudly. "No no, don't you worry about that, Terra," he said, wiping tears from his eyes. "Ed's not gonna make you do anything that you don't want. And as much as he talks, he's not going to try anything with you either; he's a gentleman like that. Besides," he added with a grin, "Locke'd murder him if he tried."

Terra smiled at Sabin's joke and pulled her shoulder out of the split in the wall. "They seem like they're very good friends," she said as she sat against the rock face.
"Friends? Those two are practically joined at the hip. Hell," Sabin added with a wink. "I'd be surprised if they didn't get together after all of this."
Terra smiled and looked away. "I just..." she said softly, "I don't know what to do, Sabin."

Sabin crossed the gallery and sat beside Terra, draping his arm over her shoulders and pulling her against him. "You do whatever it is you want to, Terra," he said warmly. "It's your choice. That's what the guys gave you - a choice. Take whichever path you want, and it'll be the right one for you."

"But how will I know if it's the right choice for everyone?"
Sabin laughed again and patted her shoulder. "Well, that's the thing," he said slowly, "You don't ever really know how your choice is going to play out until you've already made it. And by then, you're already doing it, so it doesn't matter one way or the other, does it?"

She looked sidelong at Sabin and shook her head. "I don't know, Sabin. I just don't know who I can trust. I mean..."
"Listen," he said softly, "I know how confusing this has to be for you, and I know that you don't really know who's good or who's bad in all of this, and I'm not going to try and convince you one way or another but...If you want to trust someone, anyone at all, trust Edgar. He's never once thought of himself first, and he's always been...he's always been ready to do whatever is right, no matter how hard it is. I don't want you to go telling anyone this, but Edgar's just about the best person I've ever met, no matter how he acts. If he said he would watch out for you, then he will."

They sat there in silence, Terra mulling over what Sabin had told her. He was right, she decided. They had given her something no-one else had; they gave her a choice. She could leave right now, never look back, or she could stay, try and fight the Empire, try and stop whatever it was they were hoping to accomplish.

She looked up at the huge man and nodded. "Alright," she said quietly. "I think that I'll talk to Bannon now."
Sabin looked at Terra and smiled. "Sure thing, kid," he said as he helped her to her feet. "You know that whatever you choose, Ed, Locke, and me, we've got your back, right?"
She nodded and smiled as he pulled her upright. "I do, Sabin. Thank you."
"Not a problem," he said as he hopped off of the ledge and held out a hand for her.

"So what did you decide?" he asked as she landed beside him.
"To make my own choices," she said as she walked to where Bannon was waiting.