This chapter is a heavy foreshadower, if you'd like to guess at what's coming please do. But send your guesses to me by Private message not review.
The Lonely Soul
Celes, Locke, Gau, Relm, and Strago, all watched as Sabin deflected blow after blow from Terra's fists, and feet. After an hour of flying he had grown bored, and had asked if anyone would like to spar with him. Relm was drawing a picture of Gau, Strago declined due to his age which seemed to finally be taking its toll. Setzer was the one driving, and Celes and Locke had Rachel to deal with. That left Terra.
Terra had agreed for two reasons, one: to keep Sabin happy, and two: because the black esper in her dreams had begun to act up again. Last night she had dreamed of fighting Phunbaba for the second time, but when she morphed instead of the pink and violet esper the dark one had appeared. It was just as powerful as the original, if not more so. With its incredible power she had easily destroyed Phunbaba. But that was where the similarities ended…
After defeating Phunbaba she had flown back to the shore, raised one hand to the sky, and sent bolts of magical energy toward the sun, the blasts had rained down on the destroyed village utterly destroying it, and the surrounding land. Amid the smoldering wreckage, and burning corpses she stood, laughing, like a demon set upon the world. Terra woke up then with the laughter still in her ears.
Terra let her instinct take over to prevent herself from dwelling on it, and her instinct said to move. She hoped that she could bury the esper beneath her exhaustion, beneath the sweat, bruises, pain, and weariness. She'd been brooding before Sabin had wanted someone to fight with, and without Edgar there to confide in she had to find another outlet.
Terra swung her leg at Sabin's head; he effortlessly pushed it aside with the back of his hand, sending Terra sprawling. She wasn't a fist fighter, and it showed, she couldn't land a single blow; but that didn't matter, what mattered was that it was working. Terra was too tired to think about the esper.
For hours, the world narrowed to just her and Sabin fighting. Up, down, left, right, block, punch, kick… It was everything. So she was more than a little surprised when Sabin cried "Enough stop!"
Terra stopped, her trembling fist inches from Sabin's arm; she was soaked with sweat, and panting from her exertions. Sabin had fared better by virtue of his training, but even he was breathing heavily. Gently he led her over to the ships rail, allowing her to lean against it. "Okay, I'm impressed. You kept going long after most of my students would've dropped, no real technique, but you have amazing stamina."
Terra sank to the floor, her back against the rail. She was too tired to respond. A shadow fell over her, eclipsing the sun. "Care for a drink?" Locke said holding a tray with four glasses of water. She nodded furiously, draining the first glass in one go. After two more she was able to speak. "Thanks" She said, picking herself up.
"Of course." He said, taking the tray back down.
Terra closed her eyes letting the cool air caress her face and ease her tension. After a moment she turned and looked down over the rail, along road stretched out below them aptly named the Serpent Trench because it had once been under water. They had already passed the tower that stood at its center. The tower, once the home to Kefka's cult, was now a rest stop for caravans that ran along the road.
"Don't think about Kefka… Because then you'll think about… it." She told herself. "Too late." Terra couldn't help but think that this was the worst time for her nightmares to come back. "But that was just one night, just one." She told herself, "And anyway it wasn't a memory this time, but a real nightmare… I'm just overreacting…"
They reached Doma within another couple of hours. The rest of the day was spent getting everyone settled in,Cyanhad already prepared rooms for them. However Mog, and Umaro would not be coming until later, and there was no way to contact Shadow, or Gogo though Terra had a feeling they would arrive on their own.
Setting her bags down Terra flopped down on the bed, she was spent. Her duel with Sabin along with the day's activity had completely sapped her strength. Taking just enough time to put on a nightgown, she laid down, and was asleep before she could pull the covers up over herself.
The dark surrounded her, a swirling maelstrom, with her at its center. Terra floated, waiting for the esper, but it didn't show.
After what felt like hours Terra became aware that she wasn't alone. Someone else was there, faintly sobbing in the darkness. Terra drifted closer to the sound calling out for the voices owner. Soon enough, a figure appeared.
A young blond girl sat, curled into a ball. Her head hung low between her knees as she rocked back and forth with her sobs. The white dress she wore was torn and stained with blood, Terra knew it was her own.
"Are you OK?" She asked, leaning toward her. As she did she heard the girl speaking in her grief.
"Stop it… Please stop… I'm begging you please don't hurt me anymore…" Terra reached out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but as she did the girl raised her head. Terra recoiled as her own fourteen year old self screamed, "Kefka PLEASE STOP!"
Her fourteen year old doppelganger continue to scream and plead, but its cries and form vanished suddenly as the esper appeared in its place. The creature brought one clawed finger to its lips, before it too vanished, fading with the dream.
Terra woke with tears in her eyes,sitting up in bed she made no move to stop them as they spilled down her face. "Think about something happy."She said to herself. Almost immediately thoughts of Edgar leaped into her mind. She wished he was here with her, now, in her room. He would hold her close and tell her it'd be ok.
Terra gasped as she felt an unfamiliar warmth course though her veins. The thought of Edgar holding her that close in the dark was heating her blood. "I wish you were here." She said, slipping back into a dreamless sleep.