Part Three
Chapter 12: The Rift Opens
"Xu!" called Headmaster Cid. After Garden had returned to the Balamb continent, Cid began dispatching most of the higher ranking SeeD soldiers in order to locate in and (if necessary) rescue Squall and his companion. After a very long talk with President Loire, Cid finally determined that Rinoa's death had been a hoax masterminded at least in part by his Chief of Security. Now Xu was practically the only one left.
"What is it Headmaster Cid?" questioned the young SeeD. She approached him, expecting an order to join the search, but he surprised her.
"Xu, I think our searches are going to prove to be futile…" He shook his head solemnly while gazing at a map of the world that hung in his office.
"Sir, you're not going to call of the search so soon are you?"
"No," he assured her, "But something Ellone said makes me wonder…" Cid remembered back to the meeting he had with the Estharian officials…
"So you would be willing to testify to Squall's innocence," Cid had asked Ellone.
She nodded, but said nothing.
"Yeah," Laguna said, "And after the way Kash tore up this place, I'm gonna hang his goose out to dry!"
Kiros laughed, but made no attempt to correct his friend.
"I've sent one of my people out to the Memorial," explained Cid, "I'll call for his report now," he pulled a communications device from his coat pocket and activated it, "Irvine, what is your status at the Sorceress Memorial?"
There was a few moment's of silence before Irvine's shaken and awed voice came over the line, "There's nothing here…" he finally managed.
"No one is at the Sorceress Memorial?" questioned Cid.
More silence. "Irvine?"
"There's nothing here! No people, no Sorceress Memorial…Nothing. There isn't even a blast crater. It's as if the Sorceress Memorial never even existed!"
Irvine finally calmed down. The Headmaster signed off, and looked to Laguna and the others.
Ellone was the first to speak, "I don't feel Squall anymore…it's as if he's no longer here. But he's not dead, I'm sure of it…"
…Cid was jarred from his thoughts when a Garden cadet came barging into his office.
"Headmaster!" he cried, "I have urgent news to report."
Cid turned to the boy, "Go ahead then, lad."
"The town of Balamb…there was a rumbling, and then it just vanished!"
"Vanished?"
The messenger student nodded frantically, "Yeah! No buildings…no people! Nothing left!"
The similarities were too uncanny to ignore. Very likely whatever happened in Balamb was also what happened at the Sorceress Memorial. He turned to Xu. "Were any of our SeeDs in Balamb."
Xu thought for a moment, "Yeah…Quistis!"
Chapter 13: The Search Begins
"We have lift off!" Edgar and Setzer cheered together.
Squall and Locke were less enthusiastic, but happy to finally get a move on. Unfortunately, since there were two at least two world to choose from, there was no way to say for curtain that whoever was doing this even lived in this dimension. Squall soon found himself becoming disinterested with the scenery. He went below deck.
When he got there, Squall found Locke sitting in a nearby chair. The man acknowledged Squall's presence, but made no attempt to begin a conversation. Squall, of course, was fine with this.
He had no need to go chatting about his problems with someone he hardly knew. All Squall wanted to was to have Rinoa safely back in his arms once more…no, that wasn't completely true. He also wanted to put a stop to the force that had started this mess in the first place.
It was about ten minutes after Squall entered that Locke looked up again. "Squall?" he questioned, getting the other man's attention.
Squall sighed, "Yeah?"
Locke hesitated, "Rinoa…"
Of course he has to talk about her, thought Squall, I don't feel like explaining things anymore!
However, Locke continued, "She seems a lot like Celes…you must miss her."
Squall eagerly tried to change the subject, "Edgar told me that you rescued Celes before she could be executed as a traitor."
Locke smiled, probably remembering some fond memories, "Yeah…so how did you and Rinoa meet?"
More questions? "A dance," Squall replied.
"Sounds…nice…" Locke trailed off. He stopped talking and began reminiscing with himself, reliving old memories in his mind.
Squall was once again left to his thoughts. He thought about what Locke had said…of he and Rinoa meeting. He let a small smile escape his lips. The man was right, it did seem like something out of a fantasy…
Chapter 14: Awakening
What's so great about love?
What's so great about that?
Why are you so happy?
Why can't I…love…like…you?
(to Terra's Theme)
Terra slowly opened her eyes, but could see nothing but darkness. Weakly, she made an attempt to sit up, but found that she could not move to do so. In fact she could not move at all. There was something big on top of her, holding her in place. She tried with all her might to move it but it wouldn't even budge.
What had happened? She couldn't remember anything. He had no idea at all about what had happened.
The last thing she remembered being hit from the Falcon. She should be under water, not under…whatever she was under.
So still, the question loomed - how had she gotten here? She was trapped under what she now realized must have been a ton of rock, she tried again to move but failed. Terra started to thrash about in panic, trying with all her strength to move her stone jail, however it just wouldn't budge.
She opened her mouth, screaming as loud as she could. But even as she did so, she knew nobody would be able to hear her. Terra struggled and struggled, soon loosing the feeling in her limbs, stopping only when she exhausted her strength entirely.
Her eyes filled with tears. Was she doomed to die here under all of this rock? Her children…they would never know what became of her. She couldn't let that happen! She'd promised Colleen that she would return! Terra began her struggle anew, but found it to be it to be fruitless.
She laid there for some time, trying to think of something to do, but nothing came to her…
Father? She thought to her self. It was strange, but even with all of the sharp rocks poking her body, Terra felt that she could distinguish her Magicite pendant as it was pressed against her. Father, If you are with me still…in any way…please give me the strength to live.
To Terra's surprise, she got a response. Terra, my darling daughter…the power is already within you. It has been thrust back upon you. Call upon it now…but please, don't let it consume you!
She didn't understand what he meant, but listened none the less. Focusing all of her strength, Terra called upon the powers that she hadn't thought she could ever posses again. She could feel the weight on her body begin to loosen and redoubled her effort to move the rock. Terra pressed against the stone with all her might, lifting it slowly until she could feel fresh air rush to meet her lungs and flesh. Then, she gave it her all and flung the stone aside.
She stood finally; it felt was good to be free of that prison. She looked down across the mountain side to see where she was. She was surprised to see Thamasa not far in the distance. So that's where she had ended up…but how?
"Father?" she asked aloud. Terra waited, but received no answer. A ping of sadness washed over her heart…her father was gone again. Terra quickly pushed it aside though. There were still too many questions that needed to be answered.
After she thought for a moment, she looked down at herself. She was still human, but she was completely naked. Had someone done this to her, she was forced to ask herself. Terra saw that she looked a little worse for wear. There were scratches and a few bruises on her limbs, and what looked like a mild heat burn on her chest, but other than that, she looked and felt fine.
It was while she was still examining herself that she noticed another pile of small boulders not far from her. That alone wouldn't have been enough to pique her interest, but she also noticed that there was a man's boot sticking out from under the rocks.
Completely forgetting about her current state, Terra rushed over and began lifting the stones off of him. When Terra had finished, she found a man she didn't know laying on the ground at her feet.
She bent down and inspected him. He was a mid height, blond man wearing a now shredded leather jacket. On top of him laid a large, double-edged sword. It looked like the man had been trying to use it to shield himself with it. It was a fruitless effort really though. No human could have survived the crushing weight of all that rock.
Had he done something to her? Well she didn't recall him doing anything to her so she decided to wait to find her answers. It was too bad he was dead, really. Even though she had never seen the man before, there was something about him she liked…
That and he probably could have told her what was going on.
Just to be sure, Terra knelt down and put her index and middle finger to the artery on his neck. To her surprise, he had a pulse…a strong one at that. It appeared that the man was merely unconscious.
After lifting the man's oversized sword off of him, Terra removed the torn remains of his leather jacket and shook him a bit. He gave no response to this, so she shook him again. Still, he did not react. Sighing, Terra rolled him over onto his stomach to make sure that the man hadn't received a blow to the back of the head.
He hadn't.
However, she did notice something odd about him. Just bellow where his shoulder blades met, there was two small bumps poking out from his back. They were hidden by his shirt, but Terra could tell that, if he was indeed human, they did not belong there.
After a moment of hesitation, she tore the remaining cloth away, exposing his skin to the air. She gasped at what she saw. There was something growing on his back…
***
Raven moaned uncomfortably as he drifted in and out of consciousness. He could feel hands on him. He was being jostled this way and that. After a split second decision, Raven opted to ignore the feeling and go back to sleep.
In fact, it wasn't until much later, when he felt something tickling his nose, that he finally opened his eyes. All he could see was darkness. There was something on top of him, that much he was sure of. However, just what this something was, he didn't know.
He moved his head, trying to make the itching stop, but it was to no avail. That's when he realized what was on top of him…feathers. Another realization hit him a moment after that. Wings? Did some bird fall from the sky and land on him? That would explain the headache he had, but there was something else.
Raven felt different somehow. Though just what had changed still escaped him. With a few swipes of his hands, Raven got the feathery wings off of him. To his surprise, they fell to either side of him…almost as if…Oh My God! They were attached to him! The very thought of being altered in such a manor frightened Raven more than he would care to admit. However, he was not left to worry about this for too long.
"Hello?" came a soft, yet familiar voice.
Raven stopped examining his new wings and looked behind him to find who had spoken to him. To Raven's utter surprise, behind him he found a young, beautiful, very naked green-haired girl.
He quickly averted his eyes, "I…I'm sorry," he managed to stammer out, "I'm Raven…what is going on here?"
The woman sat down a few feet away from him, "Terra," she stated, "And I was hoping that you could tell me."
Raven spun around, looking at her face to face, "Terra? Then you're that thing that attacked me! The Esper!"
Terra seemed taken aback. She cringed at the thought of being called a 'thing', "I…" she questioned, not understanding what he meant, "I attacked you? Why would I do such a thing?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Raven replied. He looked at her. Terra's face looked about the same in this form though she had returned to a more natural color. Her eyes, though, were completely different. No longer were they the dark pits that he has seen before. They were human…beautiful.
Terra no longer seemed to be the monster that she had been before. However, at the moment, Raven wasn't going to take any chances. They simply stared into each others eyes for a moment, trying to feel the other out, and understand each other.
After a moment, Terra broke the silence, "Please forgive my bluntness, but what are you? You almost look like an Esper. You know, with those wings and all."
"I'm human," Raven shook his head, "or at least I should be. I don't know where these came from," he said, indicating the wings. Raven looked himself over; other than the wings, he seemed to be the same. "I'm not sure how either of us survived that cave in."
"A cave in…that would explain how we managed to get buried under all that rock. Fortunately, my Esper half makes me a bit more durable than humans…wait," she paused, considering the words that she had just uttered, "My Esper half…should be dormant. Why would I still be able to summon that…after all this time?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I," she uttered sullenly, "But I have the feeling that something terrible has happened to me. Please, Raven, tell me what happened between us."
Raven could see the pleading in her eyes. She seemed to be attempting to curb her fear, but Raven could see it despite her efforts. He scratched his head, thinking back to what had happened, "Well, this girl and me, we were checking out a light in this cave. We found you, and when you noticed us, you attacked us and I told the girl to run.
"Strange thing is, you said that the one that you were working for wanted my sword," Suddenly remembering that his Blade wasn't with him, Raven glanced around, and found it a few feet away from him, "Anyway, we fought for a while, and you were using all sorts of magic against me," he thought it over for a moment, "Then I drew some of your power away to use for myself. I think that that was when we both fell unconscious, and the cave collapsed because of our fight. And one more thing…"
"What's that?" Terra asked with genuine interest.
"Who is Celes?"
Terra was surprised at the mention of that name, "How do you know her?"
"You said that if I wanted cold that it was her department. Is she a friend of yours?"
Terra nodded, "Celes is Locke's wife…but you don't know him either do you? She's a Magitek Knight Or at least she was. Could the same thing that took me from my friends have taken her as well?"
"I don't know," Raven replied, "But maybe we should try to find Squall, a friend of mine. If he's still alive that is."
"Well," Terra admitted, "It would be a better plan than waiting here for something to find us." Terra winced with a sudden flash of thought – that flare of green…Materia…what was it?
Terra clenched her jaw, trying to will the memory to recede. Raven noticed her discomfort, "Are you alright Terra?"
She nodded, "Yeah. I think anyway. I'm not sure exactly what they did to me, but I think I remember that it was excruciating. The darkness…it wants power."
"What kind of power?"
"I – I don't know. I just can't remember."
Raven put his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry," he assured, "It'll come back in time. I just hope you can handle it as it does."
She nodded, "I do too."
Raven turned away again, "We should probably get going. But, do you think you could go around like that?"
Terra blushed, her cheeks flaring up bright red, "Well," she began, "When you're experimented on by a lunatic for half your life, you tend to loose most of your modesty," even as she said this, Terra found herself crossing her arms in front of her, "But I suppose you're right. I can't just go around nude. I'll have to think of something."
"You were experimented on?" questioned Raven, "I'm sorry."
"That's all right. It's in the past now."
Raven nodded, letting her drop the subject.
"Well," began Terra, "You said that I was in Esper form before, and I seem to have had my powers restored, so…" Terra began to concentrate. She could feel the heat building in her blood. Terra's skin began to glow softly. Then, in one fluid transition, Terra morphed to her Esper form.
Raven jumped back, "Whoa!"
Terra smiled inwardly, "A bit more appropriate I'd say."
After a moment, Raven recovered and nodded. "So how do we get off this rock?" he questioned.
The Esper thought for a moment, "I guess we fly. I can fly, and I have a hunch that you can too, now. We'll figure out where you got those wings later," she prompted, "For now, let's just be glad you have them and get out of here."
"Sounds like a plan," Raven agreed.
They stood, and Raven stretched his new wings. Terra's heart skipped a beat when the feathers quivered; Raven's wings looked so delicate. Maybe, Terra thought, I'm not alone in this world anymore.
Raven retrieved his Blade from the ground, but soon realized that he couldn't put it on its sheath. His wings would get in the way, so he'd be forced to carry it for a while. Not that it mattered. The wings could wait. Raven had a bad feeling about what lay ahead.
Chapter 15: Rejoined
"I've been thinking," said Setzer, shattering the silence. Setzer had come to rest below deck, giving Edgar a turn at the wheel. Now Setzer was sitting at the table with the others. No one saw fit so speak for about an hour, not that Squall had a problem with that, but now it seemed that Setzer wanted to voice his opinion yet again. "If magic was restored to this realm, wouldn't we have gotten our abilities back; not to mention, Terra?"
"Yeah," replied Locke, "but you said that you saw that creature use magic. Could it have been a trick? Could our world still be void of magic?"
Setzer shook his head, "Don't bet on it. I think that the magic we saw came from another world…perhaps Squall's, but I doubt it."
Squall thought about that for a moment. He'd suspected the same thing himself.
The gambler continued, "As things are, the only Espers that still exist on this world are Terra, that shard of Magicite that remained from her father Maudin, and the one used to form the blade of the Ragnorok. Locke, you still have that sword, correct?"
"Right here," Locke patted the blade at his side, "It's a powerful sword. Although it hasn't shown any magical properties since magic died."
"True, but if something found a way to restore those monsters, then we'll find a way to recharge that sword," he smiled, "And ourselves at the same time."
Squall spoke up, "I'd help it I could, but the only way I can transfer magic is by drawing and casting spells. Sorry."
Locke looked up, "Yeah, you mentioned before. How exactly does magic work on your world?"
"Well," Squall began, "It used to be that only sorceresses could use magic. But a while ago, a scientist named Odine began studying sorceresses and found a way duplicate this ability in humans," he shrugged, carelessly, "Not long afterwards it was found that by joining with a Guardian Force, I guess they're something like Espers, the capability to draw and use Para-magic became went up exponentially. That's really all I know, I'm not really a history buff. I know that you draw spells from monsters and stock them for later."
"Interesting," replied Setzer.
He nodded. Edgar had spoken earlier about how, by using Espers, one could learn a spell and keep it permanently. Squall really thought that it seemed like a better system, but even that had drawbacks. Spell casting caused the caster to slowly become exhausted, and repeated use of magic without rest would eventually leave the user completely drained. All in all, Squall wasn't sure if he would like the tradeoff, but having a spell on hand when you needed it really did come in useful.
Squall's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Edgar started yelling from up on the bridge, "Guys! Get up here now!" he called, "Something's coming…something big!"
The three stood at once, and ran towards the stairway.
Then they got there, Edgar pointed off into the distance about a kilometer away. It was another flying monster; a dragon of some sort. Setzer didn't have the best eye sight in the world, but he could tell that it was a large, red, armored beast with wings that spanned as wide as the Falcon was long. It had vicious, carved features that gave the dragon an almost demon-like look.
As the dragon approached, it roared deafeningly, picking up momentum when it neared its prey.
Setzer rushed over to Edgar, "Give me the wheel!" he ordered, "You fight and I'll do the fancy flying!" Edgar didn't argue. He nodded and took his place beside the others. Setzer pulled the Airship hard to port, actually bringing them around and behind the dragon.
The creature quickly realized that it had been tricked and doubled back, hovering in the air in front of the airship
"What is it waiting for?" questioned Edgar.
"I don't know." Locke said, clutching his stomach. He looked like he was going to throw up over the railing any moment.
Setzer smirked, "How do you get seasick in the air, Locke?"
"Seasick, airsick… uhg, I don't care! Just watch your flying!"
Just then, the dragon launched its attack, spewing flame from its open mouth. Setzer sent the Falcon into a dive, trying to avoid the blast, but he knew that it wouldn't be enough. But before the scorching flames could touch the ship, Squall leapt forward and called out, "Shell! Water!"
He whipped out his hand, and a magical barrier appeared out of no where and stopped the flames. Then, a blast of water engulfed the dragon.
However, the water attack didn't phase the creature at all. In fact, it seemed to absorb the magical power from Squall's attack. The dragon repeatedly attacked the Magic Barrier, weakening it, but shattering it.
"No good," called Edgar as he unloaded a round from his Auto-Crossbow. The move proved to be futile though. The arrows merely bounced off of the dragon's leathery hide. "Try a stronger spell!"
Squall nodded and called out, "Ultima!" Silence…then a soft whirring sound made itself heard. Ultima's green fire flashed out, hitting the dragon with a deafening roar and a near blinding flash.
The dragon went sprawling back through the air, bellowing in pain. Its body was burnt nearly black, and the creature's wings were tattered at the edges.
As the creature attempted to recover from the blow, Locke called out, "Hit it again!"
Squall shook his head, "Ultima spells are rare. I don't have any more! In fact, the only thing I have left is Fire and Cure!"
"Great!" called Edgar, exasperated, "Look!" Edgar pointed to the still injured, but partially recovered dragon beast. It glared at them, pure hatred in its eyes.
Opening its mouth, the dragon prepared to fire again…
Squall was completely out of options. He couldn't use Ifrit, because it would only heal the beast further. Without a non-elemental spell, nothing could bring the beast down. He watched as the beast swooped toward the Falcon and prepared to make burnt kindle out of the ship.
Fire spewed forth once more from the dragon's mouth, but this time, there was nothing to stop it…
Suddenly, there was a flash, and a human-sized pink creature darted in front of the flame wall, taking the blast instead of the ship. Though she seemed to be quite strong, the blast sent her flying onto back onto the deck of the airship.
Setzer, Locke and Edgar face faulted and exclaimed, "Terra?"
The pink girl looked up at them slyly, "Miss me?"
Another entity with large black wings flew up. It carried a large flat-bladed, double-edged sword, which he aimed at the dragon and then called, "Blade Beam!"
A surge of white light streamed from the man's sword, hitting the dragon dead on, and dealing the final blow. It fell.
The winged man turned toward the ship, and it was then that Squall and the others got a good look at him.
The others gasped, "Another Esper?" questioned Edgar.
Terra shook her head, "I don't think so…"
Squall stepped forward, "That's the one I was looking for…Raven."
Raven slowly lowered himself onto the deck of the Falcon. Concentrating, he forced his wings to fade, much the way that Terra could morph her entire body. He sheathed his Blade and looked up at Squall.
"You're safe!" Squall called. He seemed genuinely happy to see him.
Raven smiled slightly, "I see you are too. I think we've both go a lot of explaining to do."