"A true knight raises not his sword in his princess's defense, but his shield."

(-)

"Come on!"

"No."

"Just one?"

"No."

"Not even a little peck?"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO!"

Squall and Rinoa finally happened upon Zidane's booth which was, of all things, a kissing booth. Of course, Zidane, in an open blue vest over a white, sleeveless tee, and blue, baggy shorts, was trying to get Rinoa to kiss him even with Squall in plain sight. Squall could swear he saw Zidane's tail twitch, despite it being quite well hidden under Zidane's clothes. Speaking of twitching, he could feel the veins on the side of his head pulsate uncomfortably as his anger began to rise.

"Bah," Zidane spat. "You're such a party-pooper, Squall. Tidus was cool with me kissing Yuna. It wasn't like it was tongue-to-tongue. It was just a little peck on the cheek."

Squall just rolled his eyes in response.

Zidane moved from asking nicely to begging him. "Oh come on! I was even forced to kiss Kuja! That's like kissing my own brother!" His face twisted in sheer disgust because, in some ways, it was.

"Oh jeese, that bad, huh?" Rinoa asked, obviously concerned.

"The guy wears more make-up than most women his age," he said, cringing. "Besides, part of every kiss goes to charity!"

"Who's charity?" Squall asked sarcastically. "Yours?"

Zidane forced a whistle to make himself seem more innocent, though it did the exact opposite to Squall and Rinoa. Rinoa giggled none-the-less.

"Warriors!" Cosmos's voice called as it rang through Squall and Zidane's heads. "There is an emergency! Terra has Awakened!"

"What?" Squall blurted out loud. Rinoa gave him a confused look.

"Uuuuuh, you know what? Fine!" Zidane said rather loud and obnoxiously, obviously trying to grab attention. "Go be over-protective, lover-boy, just don't do it around my stall!" He began to shoo them away. "Besides, I'm on my break now. It's not like I wanted a kiss from Rinoa anyway!" Well, that was a very, very obvious lie, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Squall, catching on, grabbed Rinoa by the arm. "Come one, Rinoa. Let's get out of here. I need to use the john anyway."

"Oh, alright. I think I saw the stalls back that way," she said pointing toward the house as now she was the one being dragged along.

As they walked away, Zidane reached under the stall to pull out a piece of folded-over paper that read, "Be back in 5 minutes" with a crudely drawn picture of a toilet on it. He lifted the side tarp of his particular stall and looked around cautiously, making sure no one was watching him. Once he determined the coast was sufficiently clear, he made a mad beeline for his house to safely travel to the Sanctuary and answer Cosmos's call.

(-)

Vaan raised his shielded arm overhead to block the incoming rain of flaming-red, magical meteors. The molten rocks battered against his leather shield as Vaan braced for the impact of the second wave. His knees began to buckle under the intense force of the falling stones as Terra showed no signs of slowing or fatigue. Vaan, on the other hand, was already panting heavily. Terra's vast array of magical spells kept Vaan on his toes as he couldn't find any opening for a counter attack… not that he really could strike back at her, out-of-control Esper or not.

"STARS!" commanded a voice. The two of them turned their heads to see Cloud, of all people, twirling his massive sword around his head as several, mini meteors rose forth from it. "STRIKE DOWN!" He planted his sword into what would be the ground if he was standing on it as the meteors shot toward Terra at full speed. Terra summoned four cyclones, three twirling around her body while her body was encased in the fourth, blocking the incoming star storm with relative ease. The cyclone forces began to pull Vaan and Cloud in. Vaan braced himself by planting his spear into the ground of the strange castle floating in the sky that Vaan found himself in after transporting them both here, the place known only as the Rift. Cloud, not having as secure a foothold, was sucked into the tornadoes as his body was raked by the winds and the debris they collected. After an agonizing eight seconds, the winds spat him upwards, and his body limply fell toward the top of the middle castle. He crashed into the ground like a rag doll a careless toddler threw over the side of a banister. He screamed in pain as he was sure the arm he landed on was now broken making it impossible to wield his oversized sword properly.

"CLOUD!" Vaan called out to him. "ARE YOU ALRIGHT? ANSWER ME!"

"If by alright, you mean alive?" Cloud started, though struggling for both breath and the ability to stand. "Then, yes, I'm 'alright'." His broken left arm hung limply at his side, while his right one used the Buster Sword as a make-shift walking-stick to keep him propped up. Terra simply hovered there, processing all the information like a computer, analyzing what would be the most effective strategy in killing the both of them as her invisible masters' wish. Having determined the best course of action, she began to charge up energy in her hands. The heat began to build, growing… growing until it was at a full charge.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!"

Zidane came rocketing in cloaked in a pink energy as his daggers raked Terra's side, breaking her concentration and dissipating the energies she had built up to fire. Squall arrived shortly afterward, splashing a bit of Potion on Cloud's broken arm, instantly mending the break with its magical liquids to a usable state. After a few test flexes from Cloud and determining that it was alright enough to use, he regripped his Buster Sword to rejoin the fight.

The four of them regrouped to formulate a plan.

"What are you doing here, Cloud?" Vaan asked, though not meaning to sound unappreciative. "I thought you didn't want to fight."

"Terra was in trouble. I wanted to help. Though... I don't know how much help I'll be."

Zidane tried to lighten the mood with his chipper attitude. "Hey, the more the merrier, right? Oh, Vaan!" he said as he suddenly remembered something. He reached into one of the many pouches that lined his pants, pulling out a tear-drop shaped stone, black on top and red on the bottom, almost like fire burning in the night, and gave it to Vaan. "This is Terra's. I think you'll know what to do with it."

Vaan took Terra's Crystal, causing the memories of her other life to flow into his mind. All of the terrible things that Terra did in the name of the Empire, the things she had no say in doing, played in sequential order like a big-budget horror flick. Only, these deaths, these cries of pain and terror, they were real. Real people died those deaths at the hands of Terra, no, at the hands of the Empire using Terra as nothing more than a weapon. He could see it in the eyes of the people right before they were slain: It was not fear in their eyes, but unbridled hate. Hate they had for her; hate he knew she had for herself as well. She saw herself as a monster; he could see it in her memories.

"No," he thought. "That's not true, Terra. You're no monster. I'll make you see that."

Shaking his head to push back the memories that still invaded his consciousness from Terra's Crystal, he was filled with renewed vigor as the plan was obvious: Squall, Zidane, and Cloud would run interference while he would give Terra her Crystal to Awaken her from the nightmare she was trapped in. She rushed them with three crystals of ice that surrounded her body. Cloud charged with his Buster Sword out in front, catching her then launching her upwards only to slam her back into the ground. Zidane continued the attack by charging at high speeds at her cloaked in a weak energy, and then continued by slicing at her with his daggers. Squall added a revolving kick to the equation that slammed her into the ground again as Zidane launched lasers at her from his daggers. She howled in pain as her body was sent flying, but she wasn't anywhere near finished yet.

She retaliated by gathering magical energies in her arms, and then sliced the air with her claws, sending out waves of magical blades at the four. Those magical blades raked the bodies of the four of them, sending them hurtling onto the lower level of the castle bloodied and bruised. The four struggled to return to their feet as Terra hovered over them, beginning to charge energy in her hands for a powerful fireball to incinerate them.

After five agonizing seconds of her gathering the sufficient amount of energy and the four's failed attempt to flee, she fired the shot. A humongous fireball made a beeline for them, intent on blowing them all to kingdom-come. There was no time to think: Vaan had to act. He summoned a brown-colored crest on the ground, then, using all the strength he could muster, pounded it with his fist causing three rock-spikes to erupt from the ground, next to the battered bodies of his companions, protecting them from the fireball's explosion. Vaan himself, however, wasn't so lucky. The blast sent him flying backwards and over the edge of the castle.

"VAAN!" Squall, Zidane, and Cloud shouted in unison as they saw him take the full force of the blast.

The only thing preventing him from falling into the endlessly blue abyss below was his shaky grip on the edge of the ledge he now clung to for dear life. As his strength was quickly fading, he made one desperate, last plea.

"TERRA!" he shouted with her Crystal in hand. Squall had told him that when he held Cloud's Crystal, he could pierce the illusion that the Shard of Chaos cast on Cloud. He hoped that a similar thing would happen with Terra. Terra turned her head to look in the direction of the voice, her gray, hollow eyes still devoid of any emotion. She readied her second shot of her massive fireball for the precariously hanging body that the real Terra loved and cherished.

"Don't do this! Please!"

She hesitated. Somewhere in her mind, she knew that voice. It was distant and muffled, but, at the same time, familiar and warm. Her body glided over to the ledge that Vaan was hanging off of as he struggled to pull himself up. Terra looked over the side at him, though her eyes still gave him that same, cold, blank stare as before.

"Who is that?" she thought, though her own thoughts felt alien and foggy. "Do I know this person?"

Summoning every single last ounce of strength in his body, he struggled to pull himself up the ledge, every cell in his body screaming in painful protest. Vaan was running on sheer adrenaline and stubbornness now, and he knew it. He had no strength left to fight, not that he really had the will in the first place. He first managed to grip the ledge with his other hand (which was rather difficult to do considering he still held Terra's Crystal in it), then began the long and agonizing process of pulling himself up to safety all the while praying Terra didn't shoot him down or incinerate him during the process. After what seemed like hours, he had only managed to pull himself half-way up; his arms were shaky and fatigued as they did their damnest to pull the rest of his body up. He swung his right leg up, armor scraping against the brick of the floating ledge, using it as added leverage to drag the rest of his body up. He managed to swing his other knee up onto the ledge and, despite the many protests of his body, got to his feet and began the slow, agonizing, staggered walk toward her.

Terra, in her state of hollow-soul servitude to a nameless master, now saw Vaan as a threat again. She began firing off a barrage of spells in self-defense, all of them finding their mark in way or another. Vaan, now teetering dangerously between consciousness and unconsciousness, didn't even notice the spells that so obviously raked his body. He had one thing on his mind, and that was Terra. He was going to snap her out of it, even if it killed him. He swore it.

"Terra…" he said voice barely above a whisper. "Please…"

He grabbed Terra in a tight embrace as her Crystal was pressed against her back. The Crystal entered her body, merging with the magical energies that surged naturally through her being. The memories of her other life streamed through her mind and soul as they searched for the source of the darkness that now consumed her. Finding the blackened shard, her natural magics forced it out of her body, her form returned to normal, or, rather, normal for the other Terra. She was wearing a red, flower-patterned dress, red-fabric gauntlets, white stockings with golden flowers that ran down her legs, red, heeled boots with golden toes, a light-pink cape, and a pink sash that wrapped around her waist decorated with a small dagger.

However, she didn't notice her new outfit. What she did notice when she came to was the unconscious Vaan that had draped himself over her, battered and bloodied as if he just had one hell of a fight. Several questions ran through her mind as she began to panic. Where was she? How did she get here? But, most importantly, what happened him? Who did this to him?

She placed his unconscious body on the ground as neatly and gently as she could. He was a bit heavy compared to her dainty frame, and the armor he wore didn't exactly help matters. She inspected him in a state of panic, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh god! What do I do? What do I do?" She soon noticed that his chest was still. It wasn't moving up and down like it should. She placed her hand above his mouth. Nothing. She started to hyperventilate. Vaan wasn't breathing.

"Vaan? VAAN!" she shouted at him while shaking him vigorously in a vain attempt to get him to wake up. "Vaan, this isn't funny! Wake up! WAKE UP!" She started to bawl as she lowered her head onto his chest and cried her eyes out.

"No! Not him too! Please! We've suffered enough!"

What could she do? She was powerless to save the person she grew to care so much about… And, that very same person felt the very same way back. Being together helped them both recover from their respective tragedies, so why do this to her now? It wasn't fair!

"Are you truly powerless to help him?"

Terra stopped crying for a moment, hiccuping as she fought back the tears. That voice… It sounded just like hers. But, how? She then felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning to look, she saw herself, only she had green hair and was see-through, almost like a ghost. No, wait, not a ghost - a spirit, a guide. The other Terra's eyes held heartache, love, understanding, and untold wisdom.

"Follow after me," the other Terra urged. She held her hand over Vaan. "Arise."

She mimicked the movements the other-her made. "A-Arise!"

Nothing happened. Vaan remained just as still as before.

"No, Terra. You have to want him to return. You cannot command the magic. Magic does what it wants. You must pray for his return. The magic will answer."

Understanding, Terra clasped her hands and prayed. "Please. Please bring him back. Please!" Just as the other Terra said it would, she could feel the energy in her fingertips. With a nod from her ethereal other, Terra placed her hands on his chest; the magics itched anticipatingly in her fingers, waiting for the command to be released.

"ARISE!"

The magic burst from her fingers and wormed its way excitedly into Vaan's broken body. It danced around in his muscles, stomach, lungs, and heart, repairing the damage the same energies previously caused. The seconds seemed to stretch into agonizing hours after Terra cast the spell. Was she too late?

Vaan's eyes shot open as he took one huge gasp of air. He sat up as he coughed out whatever blood was left in his lungs. Terra, overcome with joy, hugged Vaan, perhaps a bit tighter than she meant to as Vaan recoiled in pain.

"S-Sorry!" she said letting go of him, then playing with a lock of her hair.

He waved the apology off as he gripped his side with one of his hands. "No, no, it's alright," he wheezed.

"Vaan…" Uh-oh… That tone of voice told Vaan that a question he really didn't want to answer was coming. "… What happened?"

Yup. He called it. "I'll tell you later." He struggled to return to his feet. Terra did her best to help him up and support his weight. "Right now, we need to make sure the others are alright."

"Others? What others?"

"Worry not, Terra, Vaan," Cosmos's voice said as it rang through their heads. "They are here with me, recovering from their wounds."

"Who was that?" Terra asked Vaan. "Her voice. It was so… familiar."

Grunting, Vaan answered, "Cosmos. That was Cosmos."

"Cosmos," Terra repeated, remembering a little more clearly now. "Oh! The Goddess of Harmony. I remember now."

The two of them made their way to the brown doors that led further into the castle. Vaan pulled out his Crystal and presented it to the doors. The doors reacted to the Crystal's light, transforming from a brown, wooden barricade to gleaming white double doors with various golden accents. Pushing open the door, the two were greeted by the sight of Cosmos's Sanctuary with Squall, Zidane, and Cloud treating each other's wounds with potions. Squall was still being conservative about his spells, Zidane can't actually cast magic, and Cloud apparently didn't have any Cure Materia equipped. The three of them look up when they noticed the double doors materialize, and Terra and Vaan staggered out of them. The doors closed and disappeared behind them; Terra squeaked in surprise. Zidane ran over to them to help make sure that they were alright. Terra and Zidane helped Vaan to lay down. His body was still in pretty bad shape.

"Ah, geeze, Vaan," Zidane commented. "You can't do anything half-way, can you?"

"What are you talking about, Zidane?" he joked. "I do everything half-way, including dying." He chuckled, though even breathing hurt like a bitch.

"Now will you use your damn spells, Squall?" Zidane asked with as much spite as he could muster. "The guy can barely move."

"Ask Terra to do it," he answered flatly. Zidane stuck his tongue out at him in a childish manner. Squall ignored it.

"Squall, please do it," Cosmos chided. "I must speak with Terra."

"Tch, fine," he huffed. He grumbled intelligible swears under-his-breath as he made his way toward the heavily injured Vaan. "Don't move."

Vaan shot Squall a very annoyed look. "Squall, the only place I can go right now is in my pants." Zidane exploded in a fit of laughter.

"… You sure you need this? You sound fine to me."

"Ha. Ha. Ha," he mocked. "Hilarious."

While Squall was tending to Vaan's injuries, Cosmos took Terra aside to talk.

"Terra, what do you remember?"

"A-About what happened?" Cosmos silently nodded. "Nothing, really. I think I remember hearing Vaan's voice, but nothing else." She began to play with a lock of her hair. "But…" She turned back to look at the others. Vaan could now get up and move around without too much difficulty, though the occasional winces that appeared on his face indicated he still felt some pain. "… I did this, didn't I?"

Cosmos remained silent. Terra took her silence as a yes. She began to cry again.

"I-I knew it…" she fell to her knees and sobbed into her hands. "I'm a monster…"

When Vaan saw Terra fall to her knees, he started running over to her but collided into a magical barrier along the way. It disoriented him as he bounced off of it, rubbing his nose in pain.

"Okay, ow."

"STAY AWAY!" Terra commanded.

"Terra! What's wrong!"

She turned to look at him, her face red and eyes puffy from crying. "I'M A MONSTER, VAAN! A MONSTER!" She looked away from him once more, unable to meet the eyes of one so noble. "Monsters don't deserve love…"

Vaan had enough. His anger balled up his hand into a fist as he punched the barrier she erected around herself, shattering the invisible force-field in an instant. Perhaps, it was a more symbolic gesture than it was a physical one: No matter what she could or would do, she could never keep Vaan away. He was just too stubborn. He would break down a thousand walls for her, including the ones that she would erect around her heart.

He calmly walked toward her. His eyes showed no hate, nor malice, nor sadness. They only showed love and concern for her, just like they always did. He fell to his knees, right next to her, and held her in a tight embrace. She was at a loss for words. All she could do was cry into Vaan's shirt, his once white, pristine blouse was wet from tears and snot. He didn't mind, or at least he pretended not to.

"Terra," he softly spoke into her ear. It had the same calming effect as his eyes, full of his love for her. "Terra, no matter what your memories tell you, no matter what people tell you, no matter what you tell you, you are not a monster. You are very special to me. You're the treasure a sky pirate could spend his entire life searching for, and never find. And, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you never let a treasure this precious go. So, I'll continue to hold on to you because I know there isn't a better treasure out there."

"P-Promise?" she managed to squeak out between hiccups and tears.

"Promise."

"A Sorceress' Knight."

Squall's sudden words had everyone turning their attention to him. Once he had sufficiently grabbed everyone's attention, he continued. "It's a term from back on my original world. A Sorceress' Knight protects a Sorceress, obviously, but not just physically. They defend their Sorceress mentally and emotionally too. Back where I come from, Sorceresses are considered monsters as well and are feared by the average person because of their great power. They are often hunted like dogs and imprisoned for crimes people think they might commit. A Sorceress' Knight is meant to protect them from persecution and themselves. Having the Sorceress power is a great and terrible burden, but also a wonderful gift. It stays with you for the rest of your life." He thought on a similar promise his other-self and the Rinoa he knew made. Personally, he found it kind of ironic that the person who was trained all of his life and destined to fight Sorceresses ended up being the protector of one. He wondered if, looking at those two, this was how it was like for Zell and the others, watching Squall be the knight in shining armor for Rinoa that women spend their entire lives searching for, Sorceress or no.

Vaan turned back to Terra, having understood what Squall was trying to say. He had to protect her. He had to be her shield not just from swords, but from words. "I guess that makes me your Knight, huh?"

She hugged him and rested her head on his wet shoulder from her tears, a gentle smile on her face. "Yeah. I guess it does."

(-)

Aw, the VaanxTerra (what is this shipping pair called, anyway? I'm fairly certain that Firion and Lightning is RoseShipping, but that's the only one I think I know). I think VaanxPenelo is the only cannon relationship I don't support, mainly because the two of them were raised together after Vaan's parents died from a plague or something like that. So, essentially, they're brother and sister. Ew, incest. Pass.

Wow, shocking there was no Bartz in this chapter (considering he's by far my favorite character). Then again, this isn't his arc. That honor definitely belongs to Vaan and Terra, obviously.

I know Terra called "Arise," but the spell was probably a simple Raise spell. Still, what sounds more dramatic when the person you love is teetering on the edge of death, "Raise" or "Arise"? Yeah, thought so. And, Terra had a little chat with her true self? Why, yes! Terra is more magically inclined than the others, so her other-self is aware of this Terra, even stripped of magic.

Oh, Vaan, you might want to warn her about her uncles, just so she doesn't make the same mistake you almost made once.

Next chapter: Marital bliss! Zack and Aerith are going to finally tie the knot, and someone's going to crash the party, quite literally might I add.