With great effort, Terra summoned a ball of fire to blow a hole through a section of the tower, revealing a passageway on the other side. Terra led the way through and the others quickly followed. They weaved through crumbling corridors, the very structure of the tower shifting as it collapsed, but with Terra's remaining senses staunchly honed in on the airship, her glowing figure remained a steadfast beacon to the others to light their way to safety.
Leo kept pace with her, focused on her with a mixture of gratification, grief, and apprehension that she might vanish at any moment. She was working so hard... giving the whole of herself to ensure the rest of them still had a future. When they had first met she had worried to him that she would never understand love, but her actions now and for the past year had more than proved that she had come to understand love in a way beyond what many could ever dream.
The passageway suddenly opened up into another section that looked like a remnant of the Magitek Research Facility, with shattered glass capsules that once held Espers lining the steel walkway. Leo's chest clenched in recognition of this place. This... was where he had actually first met Terra, as a six year-old girl sealed in one of those capsules, her pale skin marred from countless tissue samples, her eyes listless and vacant. That those capsules now lay shattered and would be utterly crushed by the collapse of this tower that Terra herself had enabled was the most appropriate justice he could imagine for this horrific place.
Terra suddenly stopped in front of one of the capsules and for a moment Leo feared that being re-exposed to this place had triggered some kind of buried terror that would waver her resolve. Instead, Terra held her hand to her chest and produced another Magicite shard whose glow was flickering dangerously. The shard floated in the air before her, and she identified it as, "Father...?"
The shard pulsed weakly in front of her before they heard Maduin's voice. "Terra... this is where we must say goodbye. We Espers will disappear from this world forever. And as you carry Esper blood, the same may hold true for you..."
Terra nodded at the remnants of her father in understanding and acceptance. However, he continued, "But... it's possible... that if the human part of you is attached to something or someone in this world strongly enough... that you may continue to exist as a human..."
Terra stood up a little straighter at this information, her eyes that had been shining with resolve now regaining an additional small spark of hope. Nodding, she whispered, "Thank you, Father..." The Magicite shard's glow then faded completely, and it disintegrated into dust.
She turned her eyes to Leo and they shared an encouraging gaze. Swallowing his building emotions, Leo encouraged her, "Terra... I believe in your love. I believe in the strength of your bonds to the children and your friends. I believe in the bond we share. And I believe in your own personal strength."
She smiled weakly back to him. "Thank you, Leo... And it's the strength and support from you and everyone else that has helped to bolster mine..." The platform they were on shuddered and the shattered glass capsules began collapsing around them. Reaching out to him, Terra insisted, "Come on, we need to get out of here. It's not much further..."
They fled the crumbling remnants of the factory as that section of the tower collapsed behind them. When they cleared the rubble the airship hovered before them, boarding ladders deployed to carry them to freedom.
Leo latched onto the ladder and helped pull some of the others up while Terra floated beside them. Setzer ran to the helm and looked around, noting, "The sky has gone completely dark. I can't tell which way will run us into a wall and which way will get us out of here."
Terra floated in front of the airship, her body's glow beginning to fade but still visible through the murky air. "Follow me," she instructed. She flew ahead of the airship like a sort of guiding firefly, while Setzer powered up the engines and turned the ship to follow her heading.
As the ship pulled away from the tower, Edgar held out one final piece of Magicite. "This is the last one..." he lamented. As he spoke, the Magicite disintegrated in his hand. "And with that... magic truly is gone..."
Celes and Leo rushed to the bow of the airship to check on Terra. She was still airborne, but if magic was now gone, it was like she was remaining aloft through sheer willpower alone. But even that was obviously taking its toll on her, as the glow from her body was flickering and fading, her altitude slowly decaying. "Terra, you've done enough!" Celes shouted to her. "Your power is fading...!"
The airship cleared the tower and sailed into the open air, the sky re-lighting and the world opening up around them. With the way now cleared, Leo leaned over the ship's railing to see Terra's speed decreasing, her body slackening and falling further still. "She's not going to be able to hold out much longer..." he fretted. Turning frantically to Setzer, he shouted, "Setzer, can you get us closer?"
"I'll give it all she's got!" he confirmed. He increased the power to the engines and pointed the bow downwards, accelerating the ship in Terra's direction.
However, at this point Terra was in a near free-fall and they weren't making up the gap in distance quickly enough. Pacing at the bow, Leo agonized, "We're still too buoyant... at this rate even if we catch up to her, we'll have too much momentum to recover and we'll all crash..." Looking to everyone on the ship, he swallowed and admitted, "I... I couldn't bear to sacrifice others to save her before... I can't ask that you do so now... not after she's used all her power to ensure our safety..."
Celes looked at him in worry. "General Leo, are you saying... we're going to leave her?"
He looked over the railing again at Terra's plunging form. She was trying... she was still trying even now to fly, but she'd exhausted herself too much...
Closing his eyes, Leo shook his head and said, "... No. The one thing she asked of me back in Kefka's tower was that she not have to face this alone. She is strong, but her strength comes from the bonds she forged with all of us, and we need to be her support during times when her strength alone isn't enough."
He gripped one of the airship's support tethers and pulled himself up on the railing. Celes had a sudden panic and ran forward to grab the tail of his coat. "General, no!" she insisted fearfully. "I know you don't want to sacrifice us, but I can't allow you to sacrifice yourself. No matter how hopeless things seem, you can't... you can't just throw it all away like that. It won't help..."
Leo turned to look down at her and could see the genuine terror in her eyes. Terror that could only come from experience. Softening his gaze, he informed her, "General Celes... Thank you for worrying about my safety. I understand that I still have people relying on me whom I promised to take care of, and therefore I cannot sacrifice myself, either."
Looking back down over the edge into the open sky below, he added, "But... when you find yourself at a ledge like this, the most dire outcome isn't necessarily the only possibility. And so... this isn't an act of despair... but a leap of faith." Celes made a small gasp as he looked back to her with a pleading expression. "General Celes, I have no desire to abandon you, either. But... I can't stand idly by this time and tell myself that her suffering is a necessary outcome. This is a risk I need to take."
Celes slowly lowered her eyes to the airship deck, then nodded and released the tail of his coat. Moving back, she straightened up and saluted him. "Godspeed, General Leo."
Leo gave her a heartfelt smile and saluted in return. "Thank you, General Celes. I shall report back soon."
He turned back to face the sky below him, Terra's struggling form falling further away from view. Closing his eyes, he internalized, Orcus... I am faced with another precipice bearing an uncertain future. You helped me to overcome it before... please lend me your strength again now...
Set in his resolve, Leo leaned forward and launched himself off the side of the airship, plummeting into a free-fall towards Terra below. He straightened out, pinning his arms to his sides to increase his speed and make up the distance between them. The rush of air past his face made his eyes start to water, but he insisted to himself, Terra... I'm not going to let you be a sacrifice this time. This time... I'm coming to get you.
Terra pressed forward single-mindedly, her senses reaching out through the darkness to find the way out of the tower's squalid air and lead the airship to safety. And it was with such great relief when her body punched through the curtain of gloom into the open sky beyond that she could only keep going. Keep flying far, far away from that place, to make sure everyone is safe.
I have to keep going. For the children, for my friends, for everyone I love... I have to...
She was so focused on this mantra that she hadn't even realized that her Float spell had given out, her body had progressively lost its glow, and she was beginning to fall. It was when her body gave a shudder that she belatedly noticed how much altitude she had lost and desperately attempted to push herself back up.
But she couldn't. Her magic was gone. Her Esper powers were gone. And now she was far from anyone who could reach her. She'd pushed herself so hard to ensure everyone else's safety that she was beyond the point where she could pull herself back.
No... not like this... her father's words had re-ignited her hope that she would be able to stay with everyone. They'd succeeded in removing Kefka's oppressive influence from the world, so now people could start putting their lives back together without living in fear and despair. The children could grow up in peace and good health. And Katarin's baby would be the start of new life in this reshaped world. Oh, how she'd wanted to see that.
Katarin... don't give up... Terra reached out an arm ahead of her as if to grasp for the strength of her friends and loved ones. I won't either... Not yet...
"Terra!" came Leo's frantic voice from above her. Terra's chest clenched in shock and she turned over in the air to see him plummeting towards her. He stretched out his arm and shouted again, "Terra, take my hand!"
Terra held her arm out weakly, straining to reach him. Their fingertips brushed against each other and he hooked his fingers around hers firmly, pulling her towards him. He drew her into a tight embrace, burying his face in her mane of pink hair.
Terra wrapped her arms around him in return, but fretted into his chest, "Leo... what are you doing?! I can't... I can't fly anymore. I can't... support you anymore like I used to..."
Leo pulled back to look her in the eyes and smiled. "Terra... it was never your magic that was supporting me. It was your heart... and no gods of magic have control over that. That's all yours." Her eyes welled with tears and he leaned in to kiss her lips softly. Smiling against them, he whispered to her, "It's okay if you can't support me all the time. During times when you're feeling weak or overwhelmed... let me be the one to lift you up..."
Terra nodded and clutched at his arms. "Leo... I do want to be able to rely on you for support, but in this case... without magic..."
Raising a brow at her with a cheeky smile, Leo noted, "Terra... when have I ever needed magic to fly?" Her eyes widened as he brought his fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle.
From below them came a spirited "Waaark!" and the black silhouette of a pair of large, outstretched wings appeared below them. Leo reached out to grab onto a tuft of soft, black feathers, pulling them both onto the bird's back.
"Orcus!" Terra gasped in surprise and delight. "You've been watching over us!" The chocobo squawked back an affirmative in response.
Leo helped get her settled on the chocobo's back, then leaned against her and wrapped his arms around her securely. "Despite how dire everything seemed, Orcus never fell, Terra. And neither will we."
Terra smiled and nodded, the adrenaline from her earlier strain fading as she sagged against him. But now without it, her body just felt... limp. Powerless. Like now that the immediate task that she had been focused on was complete, the power holding her together had been disrupted. She took a few shallow breaths and her mental grip on the Esper form she had been desperately holding onto released, the pink fur shedding from her and scattering to the wind. She watched it float away and disappear like the last lifeline she had. She had helped to defeat Kefka and saved all her friends in one final act of love, but... was that it, then? Was that... all there was left of her?
She definitely wished that wasn't the case, but even now she could still feel herself fading. But here, in Leo's arms, on Orcus's back, peacefully soaring through the endless sky... If despite all their attempts she was still inevitably going to slip away, this... this was where she wanted to be.
Leo squeezed her gently and gazed out ahead of them. "Terra... look..." he prompted. "The sky... is turning blue..."
She made no response, her body limp in his arms. Leo swallowed and leaned over, his chest beginning to clench. "Terra...?" he attempted again. But the only movement from her was her hair rustling in the wind, covering her eyes. Orcus turned his head back and made an uncertain worried coo.
Leo squeezed Terra closer to him, pressing his face against her head. "Terra... your father said that you were bound to this world by a force besides magic. I know how strong your bonds to the children and your friends are, and a love that powerful can't possibly be broken by the whims of the gods. But if you need those bonds reinforced to secure your future..."
He inhaled and looked up from her hair, his eyes misty. "Orcus... I apologize, but I'm going to need to request you to do something you're likely to find uncomfortable..."
Celes paced frantically on the deck of the airship, holding her face in her hands. "I can't believe I let him do that! Now he's gone... We'd only just gotten him back and now we've lost him forever, and Terra, too..."
Locke stood uneasily behind her and tried to console her. "Celes, he knew what he was doing. He must have some kind of plan in mind. He promised he wouldn't abandon you, right? He's a man of his word and if he promises not to abandon someone, he won't."
"I know that, but he never learned magic, and even if he had, it won't help anyone now, so I can't see any way for him to..."
"Perhaps with that!" Setzer shouted, pointing over the edge of the railing. "Incoming!"
The rest of the Returners only had a few seconds to scatter as a large black bird came sailing ungracefully onto the deck. It skidded across the wooden floorboards, throwing off its rider who curled onto his side and held another person protectively against his chest as he hit the deck.
"General Leo!" Celes shouted, running to him. Seeing who he was holding in his arms, she held her hands to her mouth, gasping, "And you got Terra, too!" Looking up at the bird, she added in confusion, "And a... flying chocobo?"
"Hah, I knew the General would come through somehow, but that was pretty low on my list of guesses as to how," Locke admitted.
The chocobo looked panicked at being around this many people and unsteadily backed up, trilling in uncertainty. However, Gau hopped in front of it and proclaimed, "Wark! Wark wark! Kweh!"
"Kweh?" The chocobo responded, cocking its head.
"Wark wark wark!"
The chocobo then peaceably flopped down on its haunches and continued to keep a watchful eye on Leo and Terra. Gau turned to the others and explained, "Chocobo worried! But me tell chocobo we all friends!"
Leo pushed himself up to a sitting position, holding Terra protectively in his lap. "Yes... we're all friends... and right now it's the power of that friendship that we need most of all."
Celes knelt next to him, looking Terra over. With an uncertain swallow, she wondered, "General, is Terra...?"
"She is holding on by a thread," he explained solemnly. "But we need to turn that thread into a sturdy anchor if she is to remain in this world with us. You all have had... so much more time with her than I have. Our bond may be strong, but it is not the whole of what has made her." He blinked back tears and looked up at them pleadingly. "Please... lend her your strength. Don't let her be left behind again..."
Celes nodded firmly, placing a hand on Terra's shoulder. "There's no way we'd leave her behind. Terra was the one who made sure I wouldn't give up even when I would find myself thinking that all hope was lost. She gave me that hope, and I'm not going to squander it when she needs it back."
Locke moved to stand by them. "Yeah, Terra was there with us from the start, agreeing to help us even when she didn't understand what it was we were fighting for. She just... wanted to make sure we were all right. I never wanted to coerce or manipulate her into fighting for us, but as things spiraled out of control she stayed with us all the same. I really respect the fortitude she had to stick with us all this time."
"Ah, yes, I do remember when I first laid eyes on her I found her to be quite lovely," Edgar reminisced. Everyone glared at him, and he amended, "But that loveliness was due to her courage and compassionate character. She wouldn't let herself get distracted by trifling things like I often did."
"Oh, and you should have seen how she took out that monster in Mobliz!" Sabin added. "I'd spent years training to become stronger and it got to the point where I was just training for the sake of training. But when I saw that burst of raw energy she had to protect those kids, it reminded me of why I wanted to be strong in the first place. She's tough with a big heart and I know she's got the strength to pull through this."
Cyan nodded. "Aye, it was Lady Terra who confronted me concerning my correspondence with Miss Lola. I had been content to hide from it and continue to live a comforting lie, but she was the one who insisted it was better to face the truth and learn better from it. And for that I owe her my most sincerest of gratitude."
"She's got an unbreakable spirit," Setzer noted. "She made sure we were all dealt a winning hand, so it's only proper for us to return the favor."
"Terra friends to animals!" Gau added.
Leo squeezed Terra, nodding through his tears. "Thank you, all of you. I may not have been with you for most of your journey together, but I am grateful to hear that she has always been such an integral part of it." Looking down at her fondly, he gently brushed her bangs away from her eyes. "She saved both my life and my soul, coaxing me back from a very dark place I had fallen into. She has been my constant source of inspiration and comfort in these bleak times, and I wish for her to be able to share in the fruits of her efforts."
He pressed his forehead against hers, his lip trembling. "And... perhaps more selfishly... I wish... I wish for her to stay with me. With the children. To raise them together and watch them grow and thrive. I want her to be able to have a real home and family... For us to all support each other when we're in our weakest moments... Just as I hope we are able to do now..."
Terra's head lolled forward against his, and there was a breath of a whisper from her lips: "That sounds... wonderful..."
Leo sat straight up, his heart racing. "Terra...?" he wondered hopefully.
Her eyes fluttered open and she gazed up to him with a weak smile. "Leo..." she whispered back. "I made it back to you..."
"Terra!" Celes exclaimed excitedly. "You're all right!"
Terra rolled her head to the side, nodding. "Yes... I am now." She sat up a little, with Leo supporting her back. "For a while I felt like I was... caught between worlds... that I was being taken away to where the Espers were, but not completely. I felt... trapped. Like I had no direction for how to get out." She smiled and looked around at the others. "But then I felt all of your wishes towards me, and they lit my way back. Thank you... everyone..."
Locke pumped his fist in the air. "You should know by now that there's no way that we'd leave you behind, Terra!"
She made a light giggle, then turned back to Leo, holding her hand to his cheek. Gazing at him fondly, she cocked her head with a grin and noted, "But I still think... the strongest wishes I felt were coming from you..."
Leo let out a sniffle of a chuckle, clasping his hand over hers. "I have a habit of apologizing every time I feel I have overstepped myself, but in this case... I make absolutely no apology for that." He leaned towards her and whispered against her, "Or for this..." His lips closed over hers firmly, awash in desperate relief. Terra wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling herself up against him and returning the kiss with a resolute promise that she truly was here to stay.
Celes scooted back and blushed furiously. Well, that certainly answered her questions concerning what the nature of their relationship was now. And with the intensity and confidence of that kiss... there was no way this was even their first time. She wondered if that was all they had gotten up to during their three days alone together...
She shook her head with a smile. But, no, that wasn't important right now. She was honestly relieved that they were both all right, and that they had both finally found someone they could rely on for support.
From behind her there were murmurs of various reactions from the others, including an excited squawk from the chocobo. Edgar politely clapped and offered a sincere, "Bravo!"
Relm clenched her fists with a mischievous smile. "Oh yeah, things are getting hot in here now! Someone's getting lucky tonight!"
Leo snorted and broke away from the kiss, then bumped his head against Terra's forehead. "Please promise me that we will raise our children to have more decorum than that."
"Oh, definitely," Terra agreed, pressing her forehead back against his with a light laugh.
Leo stood and offered Terra his hand. She took it and pulled herself up shakily, leaning against him for support. But after regaining her balance, she slowly let go of him and remained standing under her own power. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the wind against her face. Opening her eyes again, she looked out over the bow of the ship and noticed, "Yes, I do see it, Leo. The sky... is blue..."
She slowly made her way to the front of the ship, taking in the whole of the sky, now bright and clear for the first time since a year ago. She spread her arms, letting the air rush between her fingers, then reached up to undo the ribbon in her hair, letting it fly free and catch the wind fully.
From behind her, Leo's shoulders relaxed in relief. They were no longer bound by war or terror or magic, but free to pursue the futures they desired. The world was no longer new and frightening, but new and exciting, and they would be able to explore and shape it together. And at this thought, Leo couldn't help but realize that his perception of the "final" lyrics to Orco e Delphina had undergone a similar evolution: from a theme of despair to a theme of hope.
Yes, the river fell from the mountain
Where the river joins with the sea
But the sea itself, she is boundless
You are free
We are free!
Notes:
- So, the themes that I'd established leading up to this all kind of neatly culminated in being tied together by having Leo jump off a cliff to save Terra in the climax. The issue was that he'd necessarily be doing that right in front of Celes, so I really had to think about how to handle that appropriately. Thus, I paid homage to the censored version of Celes's attempted suicide scene from the SNES translation that called it a "leap of faith", to borrow an existing interpretation to sort of re-frame the action as something more hopeful.
- The air rushing past your ears while in a free-fall makes it impossible to actually hear anything being said to you so you can't actually converse while falling, but... shh, let me have my moment.
- In the original game, I found the original fear of Terra disappearing with the Espers being resolved with a simple, "Oh, no, she's fine" a bit anticlimactic. True, it could be a representation that since she obviously had love and ties to the world at this point that there really was nothing more that needed to be done and she could continue to exist without effort. But since I had Leo steal Setzer's thunder by giving him the big catch, I wanted to give the other Returners something to contribute, so I modified Terra's recovery to include them.
- According to creator interviews, in earlier drafts Terra actually was going to disappear at the end, but they changed that later to maintain the hopeful ending. And since my whole goal with this story was to give Leo and everyone a happy ending, like hell I was going to change that.
- Epilogue chapter to follow to tie up some loose ends and really pour on the fluff.
- Chapter title is, appropriately, "At the River's End".