The members of the three infiltration parties stood on the deck of the airship as it hovered over the misshapen tower erupting from the center of the Southern Continent. The ground surrounding it was twisted and warped, and the tower itself was covered with scattered pieces of buildings of Imperial construction, as if the tower had erupted from the ground and impaled Vector from below, mangling the city into barely-recognizable debris.
Leo gazed at the tower in passive shock, as though he was returning to the smoldering remains of a home gutted by fire, except in this case the destruction had been cruelly intentional. All of those innocent civilians... the friends and neighbors he had been fighting for his entire life... it was like their corpses were on display in some sort of mocking show of contempt. He had to fight to save the world from further degradation of this sort, yes, but also to give all those who died a more respectful end.
"All right, we're going in," Edgar announced. "This will likely be the most dangerous battle of our lives, but the very fate of the world is depending on it. Everyone has been briefed, so we all know what we have to do. If we find the Warring Triad statues..." He looked seriously at Terra to confirm her approval. "... We destroy them."
Terra nodded firmly back at him, meeting the seriousness of his gaze. "We have to. It's for the future."
Encouraged by this, Edgar raised his fist in the air and gave a shout: "For the future!"
The others raised their hands in return and echoed his rallying cry. "For the future!"
The three groups convened at the railing and threw down ropes to rappel down to their designated positions on the tower. Leo descended first and held the bottom of the rope steady for Terra, Setzer, and Gau to safely slide down it. Once they were on solid ground, Setzer casually took in the surroundings and sarcastically noted, "Cheerful place... it barely even seems structurally sound."
"It is the creation of a twisted mind," Leo observed. "Even though we faced no resistance upon arrival, I have no doubt that the demons that plague Kefka's thoughts have manifested and run rampant in this place as well. Be on your guard."
Gau bristled and made an uncertain groan. "Bad monsters... I smell."
Terra lit a fireball in her hand. "If we're prepared to face Kefka and the Warring Triad, we're prepared to face whatever monsters he's summoned here, too. And I know you got stronger on the Veldt, right Gau?"
"Gau get stronger!" he confirmed. "But... bad monster has bad breath... make sick... no fight."
"I will defer to your expert advice in avoiding this monster, then," Leo concurred. Nodding his head down a slope ahead of them, he said, "I see what appears to be an opening into the interior of the tower. Let us proceed there before we have any unwanted encounters."
When the entered the opening, the layout suddenly drastically changed from the misshapen molten rock and dirt of the exterior into square and rigid steel walls and floors. Leo immediately recognized it as, "This is... the Vector palace prison! And it seems largely intact!" He ran his hand along the cold metal wall almost nostalgically. "I wonder if other portions of the city have been similarly preserved..."
Terra looked at him a little sadly. She knew Leo had had an office and likely living quarters in Vector that housed all his personal belongings including his music collection. She wished they could salvage some portion of it and bring it back to Mobliz, but... they had no means to do so as that wasn't the purpose of this mission.
Leo seemed to come to this understanding, too, and slowly removed his hand from the wall, lifting his head. "But... these are just walls. Walls can be built anywhere, but it's the people who are irreplaceable. Keeping you and the rest of the world safe takes precedence."
"Good to hear, General," said Setzer, opening the door from the cell they were in into the main hallway. However on the other side of the door stood two humanoid creatures wielding long swords and wearing wide-brimmed face-concealing hats. Setzer immediately flicked a dart at one of them, hitting it square in the chest and sending it collapsing to the ground. "Phew! That was unexpected!"
However, the creature shuddered and hissed out, "An eye... for an eye..." Before anyone could wonder what that meant, it flicked back a dagger of its own that hit Setzer directly in the chest in the same place, before the monster disintegrated into nothing.
Setzer looked down at the hilt of the dagger sticking out of his chest and only had the presence of mind to say, "Also unexpected..." before collapsing to the ground.
Terra hurriedly ran to him and pulled out the dagger, pressing her hand to the wound and chanting, "Arise!"
Setzer gasped, sitting up and shaking out his head, hardly fazed. "Well then... looks like luck wasn't quite on my side that time..."
Leo let out a breath of relief. "Though I am eternally grateful that we have access to revival spells such as those, I would rather not be putting any of you through that again if it can be avoided. But as these monsters appear to counter with instant death to whoever kills them, I am unsure as how to deal with the remaining one..."
"Gau make leave!" Gau assured, leaping on the monster. Leo held out his arm to stop him, certainly not wanting to watch a child get stabbed to death even if he could be healed, but the monster flailed and then fled, leaving Gau to come bounding back to the party. "Gau leap. Now Gau know monster's secrets."
"Fascinating," said Leo, placing his hands on his hips. "I was briefed on your ability to copy monsters' techniques, however the ability to drive them away without the need to fight them is also quite welcome. You have my thanks."
Leo gazed around the dungeon area and noted, "A year ago we imprisoned Kefka here for war crimes... I had hoped that that would have spelled the end of his influence, but I have come to suspect that his imprisonment was nothing more than another facet of the ruse we all fell into, and that the Emperor did not truly disapprove of Kefka's conduct... Now this cell is enshrined here in his monument to himself, mocking us that it now lies empty," he said, opening the door to the cell in question.
"I AM THE ONE KNOWN AS ULTIMA, FORGED AN ETERNITY AGO AND LEFT HERE..."
Leo softly closed the door and turned around thoughtfully. Without him needing to say a word, Terra held the Ultima Weapon out to him with a smile and noted, "You've been under a lot of stress lately. Do you need a bit of relief?"
His chest warmed and his shoulders relaxed, and he reached out to take the sword from her, leaning down to bump his forehead against hers as he did so. "You always know exactly what I need..." he whispered. "This won't take long."
Leo re-entered the cell where the creature continued to endlessly bellow its speech. With a sigh, he interrupted the monster's ramble and retorted, "I apologize that you have caught me in a rather foul mood, beast. Your master has destroyed my home, my world, and has engineered it so that if I strike him dead I may very well also strike dead a person I love dearly. Though I know what I must do, such a prospect still causes me some hesitation." He raised both the Ultima Weapon and his Crystal Blade, noting, "Thankfully, I have no such reservations with you."
From outside the cell, all the others could hear was sounds of violence. Terra looked on in worry, though not about whether Leo would succeed against this particular monster, which she knew full well that he would. Whether or not he would succeed in managing his emotions after everything that had already happened to him was still another question.
Setzer noticed her unease and observed, "You know, any of us could die at any time and it wouldn't change anything." Terra squeaked and looked over to him in confusion, not knowing whether that was even supposed to be encouraging or not. But Setzer continued, "I get that no matter what sort of face you put on for everyone else, you're both still worried about what happens to you if we defeat Kefka. But that's just one thing out of a hundred in this tower that might kill you, so there's no point in obsessively focusing on it. For all we know, we could walk through that door over there and fall into a pit and die. But we're not wasting any energy fretting over that. If you spend all your time worrying you might lose, you never have time to actually enjoy the game."
"That's true..." Terra agreed contemplatively. Nodding to him, she affirmed, "Thank you, Setzer."
The sounds of battle from inside the cell quieted, and a few moments later Leo emerged, rotating his shoulder. "Mmh... that certainly got some of my pent-up stress out..."
Terra trotted over to him and snugly wrapped her arms around his chest, pressing her face into his collarbone. He blinked down at her in slight surprise, but stroked his hand over her hair and wondered, "Is something the matter?"
"It's just..." she began, squeezing him again and looking up at him. "I want to fight with you and everyone else to stop Kefka, and I don't want worries or anxiety getting in the way of that. If this... if this really does end up being the last time I'll be able to fight by your side... then I want those memories to be fond ones." She reached up and held his cheek. "Because if we keep living like tomorrow will never come, then we've lost today, too."
Leo's eyes widened, then he took her hand against his cheek and slid it forward to kiss the heel of her palm. "I... I apologize. I have been so focused on my own pain that it's like I'm preemptively pushing you away. I even fought that monster without you..."
"Because I already knew you could win," she said with a smile. "But there are more to come." Nodding down to the Ultima Weapon he was still holding, she instructed him, "So you'd better hold onto that. Last time you gave it up and faced Kefka as an Imperial general. This time I think I think you should face him as yourself."
"You're right..." he affirmed. "Not just me, though. Like you said, this is a fight for all of us." He looked over to Setzer and Gau, insisting, "We'll all face him with resolve and confidence."
Setzer gave him a casual wave and turned to the door exiting the dungeon area. "Well, I'm just glad to see that you've got better focus now. There's already enough uncertainties going into this, so it's good to have some things that can be counted on."
He opened the door and stepped through, then immediately flailed as it turned out there was no floor on the other side. Gau scampered forward and grabbed the tail of his coat in his teeth, yanking him back into the room before he could fall. Setzer caught his breath, then shook his head. "I don't know if I should consider this a good omen that I predicted a pitfall here, or a bad omen that I'm two for two in doors that almost kill me."
Leo looked down over the ledge and requested, "Terra, would you be able to get us all down safely?"
Gau flapped his arms like a bird and leapt off the edge. "Gau know flying monster's secrets!"
"Wait, young man, I don't believe that's how...! Oh..." Leo tilted his head, perplexed, as Gau was indeed floating in the air simply by invoking the power of flying monsters.
"Heh, and I'm good, too, General," said Setzer, holding up a piece of Magicite. "Float!" Setzer, too, floated off the ground and into the open pit to join Gau. "You should really try learning some magic sometime."
Leo smiled and shook his head, then held his hand out to Terra. "I do agree that I need to be able to stand on my own... but right now I also don't want to be rejecting your assistance if you are offering it."
Terra took his hand and squeezed it. "I want to keep supporting you for as long as I'm able," she affirmed. Closing her eyes, she stepped out over the empty pit while chanting, "Float," Leo weightlessly following after her. The four of them then hovered their way over to a nearby ledge where they found another door where they could proceed.
Setzer looked at the door and shrugged, then nonchalantly pulled it open. He tensed only slightly, but this time there was nothing of note on the other side. "Ah well, looks like my run of bad luck has ended for now."
"You almost sound disappointed," Leo observed in confusion.
Setzer relaxed his shoulders and gazed passively into the empty room. "Just falling into a novice fallacy, General. That if all the bad luck fell on me instead, then maybe the rest of you would have a better chance... but that's not how it works. A coin can land heads a hundred times in a row, and the chance of it landing heads on the 101st flip is still 50/50. People complain that life isn't fair... but life is fair most of the time, it's just that 'fairness' looks a lot like 'cruel indifference'."
Terra approached behind him and said, "Setzer... thank you for trying to do what you can to change my fate... but I don't want you to do so at the cost of your own safety. You're right that sometimes no matter how hard we try, we can't change the outcome of something. But we can change how we deal with it. And I want the rest of you to be safe."
"Heh... sorry about that..." he responded placing his hand on his hip with an apologetic smile. "I like playing for keeps, but only when it's my own life at stake. I don't care for games where I'm wagering someone else's."
They proceeded through some ductwork that Leo recognized from the Magitek Research Facility. Once they passed through it, they found themselves outside again. There were two more doors leading back into the tower's interior, and Gau immediately dashed towards the closer one. Once they were inside, though, they found themselves at an apparent dead end.
Gau sniffed around and then found a button on the floor. Without any discussion, he reared back and announced, "Gau push button!"
"Ah, wait, Gau!" Terra warned, remembering what happened the last time they had carelessly pushed a button in a dungeon. However, the button only caused a section of floor on the other side of a gap to move, but still didn't offer them any means of passage.
Setzer shrugged and turned around, "Ah well, maybe that'll help one of the other teams. Let's see what's behind door number two."
As they left, Leo wondered to Terra, "What were you were afraid was going to happen if he pushed that button?"
Terra laughed lightly in embarrassment. "Oh, back before we found you we were in a cave looking for Cyan and there was a button in there that ended up releasing a dragon. And when Gau went running off in the Phoenix Cave while we were looking for Locke he stumbled upon another dragon. I was just worried that we'd have to fight yet another dragon, but I'm glad that's not the case this time."
But when they entered the second door, perched atop a red-carpeted pedestal was a golden dragon, glaring at them menacingly. Terra's shoulders slumped with a sigh, relenting, "Well, I guess this is my..." she counted on her fingers, "... fourth one now, anyway? We should be pretty good at this by now."
Gau sniffed the air and declared, "Dragon smell like thunder. Lightning bad, water good. Me know secrets of Chimera!" He rushed forward before they could put together any more coherent plan and shouted, "Rrraaagh, Aqua Breath!"
Setzer shook his head in resignation, pulling out a deck of razor-edged cards. "Once he sees a fight, he's basically uncontrollable, anyway. Shall we?" He flicked a pair of cards at the dragon like throwing stars, slicing gashes across its face and blinding it.
Leo held out the Ultima Weapon, stating, "This sword cuts through all defenses so the enemy's strengths and weaknesses are immaterial to me. How about you, Terra? I assume you have some water spells handy?"
"Actually..." said Terra, biting her lip, "For some reason water isn't an element any of our Magicite ever granted us. That Aqua Breath spell that Mister Strago and Gau can use is something known only to monsters but not to Espers. The only way for me to use water..." she held up a shard of Magicite, "... is to summon."
"Is there some kind of drawback to that?" Leo wondered.
Terra shook her head. "Well, I can only use it once before the Magicite needs to recharge, and if you're not expecting it... it can be kind of overwhelming." She looked towards the dragon, which was raining lightning bolts around Setzer and Gau who were frantically dancing around trying to dodge them. Raising the shard of Magicite over her head, she shouted, "Stand back, everyone, let me take care of this!" When she saw that Setzer and Gau had bounded out of the way, she closed her eyes and commanded, "Bismarck! I summon you! Breach Blast!"
Water began bubbling from between the metal paneling on the floor, then suddenly gushed out in a geyser. Riding this torrent of water was the ghostly form of a great white whale, elegantly gliding over them as if leaping from the sea. Leo watched the spectacle with his mouth agape, the spirit whale reaching the top of its arc and then crashing down on top of the dragon, erupting into a great splash that swallowed the dragon and caused it to disappear beneath the churning waves. Then, just as spontaneously as it had appeared, the water evaporated and the room remained otherwise dry and unscathed as if nothing had happened.
"Now you're just showing off," said Setzer from the side, folding his arms in amusement.
"Gau dodge 200 lightning bolts!" Gau proclaimed.
Leo continued to stare at the area of the floor from where the spectral whale had appeared and disappeared, deep in contemplation. Terra approached behind him and rested a hand on his back, startling him a little. "Seeing a summon in action is a bit intense the first time, isn't it?"
He swallowed and continued looking at the floor, then moved his gaze to the Magicite shard in her hand. "... That's just it, though..." His eyes raised to meet hers, and were tinged with guilt. "This isn't the first time I've seen that Esper."
Terra squeezed the Magicite shard and swallowed, suddenly recalling that this - and in fact almost every piece of Magicite they had acquired before the world fell - had come from an Esper that had been held in the Magitek Research Facility at some point. A facility that Leo had stormed years earlier, but whose operations he could do nothing to halt.
Leo noticed that Terra appeared to recognize what he had implied and continued, "You and Corporal Janson have both offered me your forgiveness and I have done my best to accept it. However, I cannot presume your forgiveness to extend to all of those who have suffered due to my actions. The Espers that fled the Sealed Gate razed Vector for what we had done to their comrades. Though as you said, offering myself as a sacrifice to satiate their revenge would be a betrayal to all those who rely on me now, I feel I must still at least offer them the opportunity to judge me individually."
He hesitantly held his hand out to Terra and requested, "May I?" She nodded and placed the Magicite shard in his hand. He gingerly wrapped his fingers around it, a soft warmth emanating from the core of the smooth, green stone. What could he even say to a creature that had been imprisoned and tortured for nearly twenty years by his fellow countrymen?
Before he could even say anything, though, the stone in his hand gave off a soft glow that expanded to envelop him. The glow wavered in front of his face, and there he could see the apparition of the great whale that Terra had summoned earlier. But perched upon the whale's back were the figures of a dozen other Espers, their forms varying from a boar, a unicorn, a cat, and some that almost appeared human.
"General of the Gestahlian Empire..." their voices echoed around him. "We the Espers who were held at the Imperial Magitek Research Facility have borne witness to your actions and shall pass judgment on you as you desire."
Leo swallowed and bowed his head. "Espers... I sincerely apologize for the horrible wrongs my country has inflicted upon you. We sought to use your power to dominate others without any regard to either your or their autonomy. I was ignorant... perhaps willfully so... and allowed such abuses to continue. I cannot expect you to forgive me... but I do ask that you permit me to continue to use my influence to attempt to right these wrongs and re-empower those who were victimized by them."
He looked up and one of the Espers had broken away from the group and was standing before him, one that had the appearance of an olive-skinned human man but with silver hair, horns and claws, and wearing a pelt around his waist. Leo recognized him as another one of the Espers that he'd seen held captive in the Magitek Research Facility years earlier. The Esper regarded Leo seriously and noted, "General Leo... I witnessed your efforts to broker peace between our two races... and your efforts to plead for my daughter's safety when you infiltrated the facility years ago..."
Leo felt his chest clench. His... daughter?! Then this Esper was Terra's...?! And he'd been...?!
Even though the Esper was already taller than him, Leo suddenly felt even smaller. He bowed his head and softly stuttered, "Sir, I... I do not even know how I can begin to apologize for all that has happened..."
The Esper sighed, then lifted his chin and demanded, "Leo, look me in the eye." Leo flinched, the informal term of address making him feel even more vulnerable, but raised his head as instructed, his eyes meeting with the Esper's penetrating gaze. Once his attention was held, the Esper informed him, "There is only one thing I want you to apologize for." He leaned forward and squinted. "And that is constantly debasing yourself in front of my daughter."
Leo choked in surprise and the Esper continued, "You and I are quite alike. Unlike my comrades I held no misgivings about humans and invited one to stay with us when she lost her way. Many of them protested and had terrible things to say about her, yet still I swore to protect her and our child. And yet other humans - your ruler - invaded our land, abducted us for our power, and murdered my wife Madeline."
Leo's eyes widened. Emperor Gestahl had... murdered... Terra's mother?! He suddenly felt so... dirty... to have supported such a man his entire life. The Esper cleared his throat to regain his attention, bellowing, "I see the self-deprecation in your eyes again. And I'm telling you to stop. My comrades believed that the other humans followed Madeline's trail to our land. But even if they did... what of it? Should I have thrown her out when she was in need? I regret what happened, but I don't regret what I did. Terra also came to understand that feeling all on her own. But seeing you constantly self-doubt may cause her to start questioning her resolve. She has chosen what needs to be done and I support it. I need you to support it, too."
Leo stood up straighter with a salute out of habit and responded, "Yes, Sir." Swallowing, he clarified, "However, by this do you mean that... it is a certainty that you will all cease to exist should we vanquish the Warring Triad?"
The Esper folded his hands behind his back and looked at the ground. "We Espers were created by the clashing powers of the Warring Triad millennia ago. It is their magic we carry within us, and without it there would be nothing binding us to this world anymore. But as we are now, reduced to shards of Magicite, we are but ghosts, tied to this world by that very magic. With it gone... we can finally pass on completely."
"Terra, too...?" Leo ventured in trepidation.
The Esper shook his head. "That I can't say. Half of her is bound to this world by a force other than magic. But whether that half is sufficient to sustain her existence..."
Leo clenched his fists. "I promised to support her... and I will, no matter the outcome." He gave a resolute sigh and looked back up at the Esper. "But I also need to support and strengthen myself... so that when she does need to lean on me I do not falter." He twitched his lips into a smile and extended his hand. "I appreciate your advice, Sir, and I will do my best to take it to heart."
The Esper looked at his hand, then reached out to take it, however he was nothing but a phantom with no physical form, and he could only hold it in place without making any actual contact. He nodded and replied, "And I thank you for being there for Terra when I no longer can, and helping her to experience so many joyful emotions. I simply ask you to honor her feelings rather than second-guess whether she is mistaken in giving them to you, so that she can continue to enjoy them while she can. I can't tell you how this will all turn out... but I hope for the best... for the both of you."
He released his hand and began to recede away, but Leo quickly requested, "Please, Sir, your other comrades in Thamasa perished before I had even been introduced to all of them properly. Many of their memories were memorialized without any of us knowing their names. If you are truly to disappear when this has all come to an end... may I please have your name so that I might honor it properly?"
The Esper smiled and nodded his head. "Maduin."
As the visions of the Espers faded away, Leo slowly gave a deep bow, whispering, "Thank you, Sir Maduin, for your honest judgment. I shall live by it to the best of my ability."
Terra folded her hands in front of her, looking at the floor, and admitted, "I've been able to hear their thoughts all this time so I already knew that they bore no ill will towards you, but... I wanted you to be able to hear it directly from them."
There was a pang in Leo's chest as this statement hit upon exactly what Maduin had admonished him about: If Terra had simply told him that the Espers held no grudge against him he probably wouldn't have been able to accept it. But that was the same as saying that he didn't trust her or her judgment. He was still ashamed of his past behavior, but he only had the right to inform Terra of it, not try to direct her opinion of it. If she still loved and forgave him even after knowing everything that happened, he had to respect that. Just as he wanted to ensure that she didn't live in the shadow of her past, he had to pull himself out from the shadow of his own. He was here to fight for a better future for everyone and he couldn't do that if he refused to join it himself.
"Thank you... for giving me the opportunity to speak with them," he finally said. Reaching out to hold her shoulders, he bowed his head and admitted, "But when you tell me that you forgive me... that they forgive me... I need to believe that. And... I do believe that. Forgiving myself may prove to take more time and difficulty, but I also accept that your feelings are valid and worthwhile. And I appreciate them."
She bumped her forehead against his with a small smile. "I'm so glad to hear that. I've been a bit worried that since I'm so new to feeling love that I'm just being reckless."
"No... no, you're being brave," he assured her. "To look upon your friends and the children and know that you have the power to give them a better life, but may lose yours in the process, and yet feel no reluctance to nevertheless help them... that is the purest expression of love." He leaned up and kissed her forehead. "And I'm so proud of you... and so honored that you allowed me to share this time with you."
After a moment of silent reflection, the four of them regrouped and exited the dragon's chamber, proceeding further into the fortress. They arrived at some kind of promenade however the stairs to reach it were blocked. Seeing no other means of proceeding besides a button, Gau eagerly rushed forward to stomp on it.
Setzer rubbed his chin and noted, "That button didn't appear to do anything. Perhaps it moved a platform outside of our reach like the last button did?"
Leo ran his hand along the metal walls. "The architecture of this section is like that of Vector's palace but I recognize no such place from it. Unfortunately, I cannot say where this leads or how to access it."
"Need some help?" came a sudden voice from above them.
They all looked up to see Celes looking down at them from an upper balcony. "Celes!" Terra exclaimed happily. "You're all still okay! Have you run into any trouble?"
"Just some annoying monster with regenerating limbs and another one of those dragons. But we know how to take care of those by now," she responded with a wink. "Also, when we beat the dragon, we unlocked a new piece of Magicite," she added, holding it out. "Word of advice, though? Don't... don't summon this one. It's not a fun time."
"Phoenix to the rescue, though!" chimed in Locke, holding up his own piece of Magicite. He gave it a pat and cooed, "Thanks, buddy. Anyway, Cyan's team already made it through here and showed us how to unblock that stairway."
There was a strain of a grunt from behind him and Sabin came lumbering forward carrying a very large weight. "You guys are gonna wanna move!" he warned before dropping the weight from the balcony and completely smashing the button.
"Button break!" Gau observed.
"Hey, it's what Cyan did!" Sabin defended. "Then again, that's how he deals with all technology, I guess."
And yet, despite appearances, smashing the button did indeed have the effect of causing the barrier blocking the stairway to fall. "There's another button inside the doorway at the end of the walkway, as well as one on each side. I believe all three need to be pressed at once," Edgar explained. "Let's not be smashing those just yet before we try it, at least."
Leo's team ascended the stairway and entered the door to find the other two parties waiting on platforms on either side of them. "Mister Thou!" Gau exclaimed. "Mister Thou fight dragon, too?"
"Oh ho, sounds like you've had an exciting time, Sir Gau," Cyan responded. "Alas, our journey so far has actually been quite peaceful."
"You mean 'boring'," Relm pouted, puffing out her cheeks. "Stuck with a bunch of old guys... Though, Shadow threw this thing that set everything on fire. That was neat." She hopped on the button on her side and complained, "Come on, let's get going, I hope there's a really big monster in the next area for me to paint!"
All three groups pressed their respective buttons and a stairway opened up in front of Leo's group, a walkway behind. Neither of the other groups appeared to have gained a method to proceed further, until Gau perked up and noticed on the walkway that had opened behind them: "Gau see button! Gau push button!" Thankfully doing this allowed the others to open a new path.
Terra waved at both parties and encouraged, "Keep up the good work, everybody, and stay safe! We've gotten so far together; I know we can do this!"
Terra's group ascended the stairway that had opened before them and entered the next chamber. However, as soon as they did, they found themselves face-to-face with a giant Magitek Armor blocking their path, flanked by Imperial banners.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "Guardian Armor... the same sort that Kefka brought with him to Thamasa that fateful day... He's mocking us." Raising his voice, he demanded, "Who is piloting this armor in service of such a fiend? If he is compelling you by force, I pledge that I will protect you from him if you stand down and allow us to pass."
The armor let out a hiss of steam and raised up on its legs, responding, "ACTIVATING DEFAULT BATTLE PROGRAM."
Leo actually let out a sigh of relief and a chuckle, shaking his head and drawing both swords. "Oh, thank goodness, it's automated. If there is no pilot, then I have no further reservations." Without a further word, he spun his Crystal Blade at his side and the Shock bolt erupted from the ground beneath the Armor. However, due to its bulk and weight, this failed to send it flying the way it had the Ultima Weapons.
With a shrug, Leo raised his own Ultima Weapon in his other hand, however from beside him, Gau exclaimed, "Ooh, me know that one!"
Leo faltered and looked to him. "Pardon?"
Gau stepped forward and swung his arm in the same motion Leo had, shouting, "Aaaand, Shock!" A second bolt erupted from beneath the Armor, not quite as strong as Leo's, but still enough to make it totter. Gau raised his arms proudly and danced around. "Me learn from monster!"
Leo stood in a stupor for a moment, then leaned towards Terra and wondered, "Do you know if he's available for adoption as well?"
"I think Cyan and Sabin already have dibs on him," she replied.
"Oh, good for them!" he noted, nodding in approval.
Setzer raised a card in the air and summoned his own Prismatic Flash from beneath the Armor and called over to them, "Let's not be getting distracted now! It looks like it'll take more than that to take this thing out! Its armor is tough!"
The Armor let out some more steam and announced, "ACTIVATING ULTROS BATTLE PROGRAM."
"Activating... what?" Terra wondered in trepidation. But before any of them could react, purple tentacles sprang from the floor and smacked all of them on the rears.
Leo stiffened at the inappropriate contact, then scowled and stated, "And now it's just being obscene." Raising the Ultima Weapon, he noted, "Terra, I think you know the appropriate response to this."
She already had her hands above her head, charging up a giant fireball. Next to her, Setzer was somehow making shuffling a deck of cards look threatening. Gau couldn't hold back and swung his arm again, shouting, "Rrrgh, bad touch! Shock!"
As the bolt of energy from Gau caused the Armor to teeter off balance, Leo rushed forward and slashed across one of its cannon arms with the Ultima Weapon, severing the barrels. When he moved out of the way, Setzer spun around and threw a handful of cards at the other canon arm, which somehow managed to slice it off. With the way clear, Terra thrust down her arms, hurling the fireball she'd been charging straight at it.
The fireball struck the Guardian Armor and exploded, leaving it charred and blackened. It let out a few more puffs of steam, then shuddered and collapsed into a smoking pile of metal.
Leo let out a breath, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Excellent teamwork, everyone. That was the Empire's most lethal and advanced weapon. If we were able to fell it with our combined strength, I have even greater confidence in our ability to see this through successfully to the end."
"Hopefully," said Setzer, counting his cards. "But if we keep getting blocked by enemies like this, when the chips are really down we're going to be out of cards to play."
Terra held a hand to her chest lightly. "No... we're getting close... I can feel it. The power of the Warring Triad..."
Leo felt a twinge of panic. Even though they had fought through a gauntlet of monsters to get here already... it still felt too soon. He'd wanted to fight together with her longer... talk with her longer... hold her longer... take care of the children together longer... spend the rest of their lives together as a family... But the rest of her life could very well only be the next few minutes...
"Terra!" he suddenly said a little desperately, reaching out to take her hand. Moving his mouth silently trying to find words for a moment, he finally informed her, "I... I don't want to cause you any reservations about the battle to come. I accept your decision and what needs to happen, I truly do, but... I can't pretend that it doesn't grieve me."
Terra held her hand to his cheek and replied, "Then don't pretend. Don't ever pretend. I asked you to be honest about your feelings with me, and I still want you to be. I had my emotions forcibly suppressed my entire life. Don't put yourself through the same thing. If you're sad, you need to let yourself be sad. I don't want you to be sad, either, and it tears me up inside, too, that what I need to do makes you feel that way. But even when I feel grief, there's a part of me that is still grateful that I can feel anything at all."
He nodded against her hand, a tear wetting her fingers. "I sincerely hope that we won't have to grieve when this is over... but if I have to I know quite a few albums I'm going to be listening to to help me deal with it."
Terra let out a little chuckle and wiped a tear with her thumb. "And should I make it back, I want to listen to all of your music, anyway, the happy and the sad."
He made a small laugh as well, and sniffed, "Well, that's not even up for debate. If you live with me, you're living with music playing in the background all the time whether you like it or not."
"I do like it..." Terra affirmed, standing up on her toes to give him a soft kiss on the lips.
To the side, Gau cocked his head at Setzer and questioned, "Uwao...?"
Setzer shook his head. "This is likely too complicated to explain. But it looks like... we're wagering something of even higher value than I'd feared."
When they'd resolved themselves to continue forward and climbed over the debris of the Guardian Armor to proceed to the summit of the tower, Setzer trotted after Leo and requested, "General, a word."
Leo looked to him in surprise and admitted, "Ah, I apologize for the public display of affection, we're just..."
"Don't worry about it; no one in your present company is going to judge you for that, General," Setzer replied. "I'd never shame another man for doing what he loves. However..." He looked ahead of them as Gau had scampered up to Terra and was inquiring why she had bitten the general's face, to which she looked rather flustered. "I once had... a friend. I don't know if I would say it was 'love', but... she was always the one pushing me to better myself... to try harder. She was my motivation and drive. And... one day she pushed herself too hard... and I lost her. I buried myself in gambling and reckless risk-taking after that in a fruitless attempt to find a substitute for how she made me feel..."
"Are these meant to be words of encouragement?" Leo wondered in a weary voice.
"Ah, I'm not very good at them, am I?" Setzer responded with a shrug. "I guess I'm just saying... I agree with Terra that you're allowed to be sad... but don't let it destroy you. When Celes found me, I had all but given up, wasting away in a pub and drowning in my sorrows. But she helped me realize that there's still people out there who give a damn, even if you've lost everything else." He scratched his head in annoyance and then nudged Leo's arm with his elbow. "I guess that's just a long-winded way of telling you that no matter what happens, it's not a bust. You've still got us. Terra told us all about your whole relief operation you had going on. If you need assistance with transport, I'm all in," he affirmed with a thumbs-up.
Leo's eyes softened and he nodded with a weak smile. "Thank you for that... I do sincerely appreciate it."
They exited the chamber and found themselves at the summit of the warped tower, a chill wind howling about them. And resting at the peak sat a giant stone statue of a winged figure wielding a massive halberd.
Setzer observed it and noted, "Statue, huh? Don't tell me we're lucky enough that all we have to do is smash it." But as soon as he said that, the statue groaned and the stone began to crack and flake off of it. "Yeah, I jinxed that..." he admitted.
The stone casing shattered and the former statuesque figure reared back and gave out a mighty roar. It had the appearance of the torso of an armored man atop the body of a red dragon. It swung its halberd down to point at them, announcing, "I am Zurvan, the Demon. I am the preternatural cavalry and exist only to wage war. I have been awakened from a thousand-year slumber and the destruction of this world is the only fate I have."
"And we're going to change that fate," Terra asserted, stepping forward. "Your power is killing this world and denying its children a chance at a future. We are here to take that future back."
The Demon god sneered. "If it is a battle you desire, then I accept. Too long has my halberd rusted in stone. It longs to feast on the blood of its enemies."
It swung the giant axe-blade of its halberd down at them, smashing into the ground and leaving a deep crevice. Gau jumped over it and fretted, "Gau not know this monster. Gau not know its secrets."
"We will in a moment," Terra assured him. She pointed a finger at the Demon god and chanted, "Libra!" The creature glowed and Terra could feel its feedback in her own body, taking in the sensation of the monster's properties as if they were her own. A moment later she shouted, "Its armor is weak to Poison but absorbs Fire."
"Gau know lots of poison monsters!" Gau affirmed excitedly. He raised his arms and shouted, "Rrraah, Venomist!"
Setzer snapped his fingers and summoned a Poison spell himself and affixed it to his darts, which he then threw at the Demon god. Both the Venomist and the poison darts burned through its red scaled armor, causing it to hiss and fall to the ground, exposing its ashen skin beneath. With the skin exposed, Terra launched a Bio spell of her own, crashing through the remnants of armor and burning a gaping hole in its chest.
The Demon god cringed and swiped its arm to the side in anger. "Esper... know your place! You were created by us as our tools of war. Destroy us and you destroy your very reason for existence."
Leo felt a twinge run up his spine that broke through his lingering reluctance to destroy the Warring Triad. "You believe Terra's reason to exist is to serve you?! Terra belongs to no one. She broke free of her shackles with her own power a long time ago. If you think she will disappear along with you because she is bound to you forever... you are sorely mistaken!"
He thrust his Crystal Blade in the air, summoning a mighty Shock that crumbled the ground beneath the Demon god, causing it to lurch forward. Matching its momentum, he launched himself at it and thrust the Ultima Weapon into its open wound, then slashed it to the side to completely sever its halberd-wielding arm.
Leo leapt to the side as Terra charged another Bio spell. "That's right... the circumstances of my birth don't determine who I am bonded to for eternity. I have forged even deeper bonds on my own than even a god could wield over me. And that is why... this world doesn't need you!"
She launched the Bio spell into its chest where its arm had been cut off, the poison spell melting it from the inside out. The Demon god's screech shook the entire tower, but its body crumbled and melted away. However, as it imploded in on itself, it let off a mighty scorching shockwave, blowing the four of them back, until all that was left was a blackened imprint on the ground where it had once stood.
Leo picked himself up and shook out his head, then hurriedly looked to Terra in concern. "Terra, are you...?!"
Terra also wobbled back to her feet, holding her hand to her chest. "Yes, I'm... I'm fine. I don't feel any different at all."
From behind them, Setzer let out a sigh of relief. "Looks like we lucked out..." Holding up his hand, he flicked a small fireball between his fingers, noting, "Huh, magic still works, too. I thought that at least that should have disappeared. Maybe the other two groups have been held up on their respective gods?"
Terra furrowed her brows, expanding her senses. "No... all three of the Warring Triad have been defeated, but... their magical energy hasn't disappeared." Looking up in horrified realization, she suspected, "What if... Kefka has already absorbed their magical source from them? He'd become... a singular god of destruction!"
Leo's shoulders slackened. "Then that means we still have to face Kefka himself... and the magical power of the entire world that he has amassed." And that also meant... that they weren't out of the woods yet. The Warring Triad had been destroyed and Terra survived unscathed, but it was the gods' power, not their bodies, that bound the Espers to this world. He had already asserted that their power should hold no sway over Terra, and if Kefka was now in control of that power...
He clenched his fists and shook. No... not this time. Not again, not ever. There was no way that Kefka could ever be allowed to hold power over her life again. Leo had passively accepted it as the lesser of two evils before, but... no more. Even if there was the off chance that destroying Kefka and the Warring Triad's power would mean Terra's death... Leo considered that to still be a better fate than an eternity of slavery to that madman. Terra had already made that same decision for herself and now... now he finally knew for certain he would not hold back in executing it.
Notes:
- I chose Leo and Terra's party to be the second team because they have the most plot-relevant boss fights of the three parties. Also because they pass through the prison area, which is the only place you encounter the Yojimbo/Retainer enemy, which can teach Gau Shock.
- And, yeah, I'm breaking game mechanics by letting Gau learn Shock by Leaping on the enemy here in the tower instead of going back to the Veldt and encountering them there, but strictly following game mechanics would have led to some obviously unnecessary diversions and I wanted to keep it as succinct as possible.
- But, yes, if Gau uses the Rage associated with a flying monster, he's also automatically granted the Float status.
- I'd mulled over the entire story about whether or not I wanted Leo to eventually learn some magic from Terra. I ended up deciding not to have him learn any and keep him purely melee, as there wasn't really anything about his character arc that necessitated he come to embrace magic. Yes, it could have given him some more bonding time with Terra, but with as tight as their schedule has been I couldn't really find a good place to put such a scene and didn't find it ultimately necessary enough to try to make time for it.
- The fallacy Setzer speaks of is literally called "The Gambler's Fallacy", where the human predisposition towards finding patterns causes them to believe that seeing a streak of results in a purely random process gives them the ability to predict future results, when in fact the probability of any result has not changed.
- While I do mostly go off the GBA translations and terminology in this story, I've left the available Espers as their original SNES roster, meaning no Leviathan, so no Flood spell.
- Gau's comment about "dodging 200 lightning bolts" is a reference to a notoriously annoying minigame in FFX where the player has to dodge 200 lightning bolts in a row to get a component of Lulu's ultimate weapon.
- Every piece of Magicite obtained in the World of Balance is from an Esper that had at one point been held in the Magitek Research Facility, with the possible exception of Golem and Zona Seeker from the auction house, whose origins are never specified. The original four you get in Zozo are escapees from the facility, you get eight in the facility itself, then you can buy Seraph off a thief in Tzen who says he smuggled it out of the facility.
- Maduin: "By the way, I was in her pocket the whole time you two were making out last night and saw the whole thing. Nice."
- Defeating all the dragons unlocks the Crusader Magicite, however summoning it causes huge damage to both the party and the enemy.
- In their concept art, the three members of the Warring Triad originally had proper names: Sophia for Goddess, Zurvan for Demon, and Sephiroth for Fiend. In-game they're only called Goddess, Demon, and Fiend, whereas the name "Sephiroth" was repurposed for the villain of the next game.
- Title is Italian for "Attack", and is a direction to proceed directly into the next section of music without pause.