Chapter 1: While the North Wind blows
The three machines strode through the snowy fields towards Narshe. Wedge and Vicks were exhausted, which wasn't unnatural after several hours in Magitek armor. After all, it was less roomy and hotter than a tank. Terra, now- she was a different story. No matter what happened, she never sweated. Her sea-green hair never moved a centimeter- it always stayed exactly in place, seeming almost to glow . . . Several people even swore that she didn't bleed when she got injured- but of course, that had to be pure fantasy. Didn't it?
As the three arrived at the town of Narshe, Terra took the lead. Wedge shuddered- he wasn't sure what had happened – he hadn't heard Vicks say anything to her about that. Was that just her experience with Magitek armor taking over – or, somewhere deep inside, on an almost instinctive level, would she rather die than be controlled? They walked through the gates, seeing the town bolted up tighter than a drum. Apparently, Narshe's security was better than Vicks had expected, to find out they were coming.
Unfortunately for Narshe, the majority of their armed forces were off on training exercises, and the Magitek-armored soldiers cut through the recruits that remained at the gates like a hot knife through butter.
Resistance didn't remain that meager, however. As the three passed by the smithy, several more battle-hardened guards jumped to the attack.
The first shouted, "Narshe's freedom depends on us!", and attacked Vicks, hoping to keep him out of the way, while the second and third focused their attacks on Terra. Terra's training took over, and she deftly maneuvered the machine out of their way, releasing a blast of nerve gas at the same time. The guards didn't stand a chance. Vicks had more trouble. The guard's sword sliced into his armor, cutting it off at the knees. Wedge, seeing what was happening, released a beam of electricity into the air, hitting the guard, and frying him instantaneously. Vicks directed his armor to heal itself, and so it did, wizardry emanating from the torso, picking it up, and repairing the damage to the knee joints. He moved the machine back and forth for a second.
"Good as new. Let's go into the mines- intelligence tells us that the Esper's there." Vicks radioed, and Wedge acknowledged. The three machines moved off into the night, leaving behind them the corpses of those who dared resist the Empire.
The three approached the rear of the town; one mine shaft apparently more utilized than the others. "According to our sources, the Esper was found in a new mine shaft. Maybe it's this one . . . " Wedge mused. As the three entered the mine shaft, Vicks turned on his suit's spotlight. Damn, he thought . . . It's dark in here. Let's just get the Esper and get out before my suit's drained.
Advancing through the mines, they came upon a wooden portcullis, blocking their path. Checking his sensors, Vicks was pleasantly surprised to find the Esper was in front of them- along with a monster. It seemed to be some sort of a shelled creature, like a large snail- an extremely large snail, at least ten feet tall, blocking the tunnel.
"I'll handle this," Wedge laughed, and keyed in a blast of electricity. He certainly wasn't expecting the bolt of lightning that the creature released from it's shell, striking his suit and forcing it to shut down for emergency repairs. "Shit! Looks like I'm out of it, Vicks! Sorry I can't help!"
The creature proved to be more vulnerable to fire than lightning, and was soon burned to the ground. Only blackened ashes remained where the formidable beast once stood.
In the back of Terra's mind, a presence stirred. What. . . what's going on? Where am I? Memory returned slowly, and she became aware that she was unable to control her own actions – a puppet in her own body. Raging, her consciousness slammed against the walls of her mind, but it did no good – she remained trapped, helpless to do anything. She watched, and waited, for her chance to escape.
As they approached the Esper, Vicks stopped for a moment to gawk, before nullifying its powers. After all, he had never seen an Esper before. "So . . ." he said to himself, "This is the frozen Esper."
Terra began to walk forward slowly, one foot in front of the other, until she stood not ten feet away from the Esper. It looked . . . different . . . somehow. It began to glow, pulsing with a blue light, as its power manifested itself.
Wedge began to panic. "Colonel? Do you know something we don't? Aurora? Vicks?" His panicked cries soon turned to screams of agony, as the Esper's light caused him to vanish. Vicks, too, screamed and disappeared.
Terra stood there, dumbfounded, as the blue light began to surround her, forming a cocoon. There was an explosion – then there was silence.
Awakening to the sounds of birds, Wedge blinked. He could hardly believe it- he was alive. Or, he corrected, turning to look at Vicks, they were alive. Vicks blinked, then sat bolt upright. "Where . . . where are we? Where's our armor? What's happened?" Vicks asked sharply.
Wedge laughed, and said, "It doesn't really matter. Here, the Empire is no more than a dream. We're free, Vicks. We're free. Now, the Empire can never force us to go against conscience again." Sitting up, Wedge looked around at his surroundings with a new interest. The empire was no more than a distant memory- and he wished all the happiness in the world to the Esper who had transported them there.
Re-integration of mind and body seemed exquisitely painful – the pain of a sliced finger, of a burned hand, of a migraine headache, and of surgery without anesthesia all rolled into one. Opening her eyes was almost impossible. She was climbing out of a pit- but some asshole had greased the walls. Time and time again, she climbed to the edge, only to fall back. At last, she reached the edge- and her eyes slid open.
She instantly regretted it. Pain shot through her, and she groaned, eliciting a response from the old man sitting near her bedside. Struggling to come up with a reading on the situation, she drew a blank. She didn't know the room. She didn't know the old man, and . . . and. . . and she couldn't even remember her own name. Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs, she sat up on the edge of the bed. "Where . . . am . . . I?" she said, each word a struggle to get past the haze of pain in her mind.
"Whoa! And I only just removed the crown!" exclaimed the old man. He handed her a hot drink of some kind- what, she wasn't exactly sure. . . the words wouldn't come, even though the taste was familiar . . . chuck. . . no, chick. . .chicken broth! That was it. Chicken broth. The old man walked to the corner, and picked a device of some kind up off of a table. "This is a slave crown," he said quietly, indicating the device. "They had complete control of you while you were wearing it." Obviously, he disapproved of the existence of the device.
"Uh. . . I don't remember a thing. . ." she said, and it was the truth.
"Don't worry", the old man replied, "It'll all come back to you, in time."
Her head spun, and she stood up, lurching across the floor until she leaned against the doorway. The fog in her mind dissipated slightly, and she began to remember . . . "My name is . . . Aurora. Aurora Branford. I am Aurora Branford."
"Impressive!" exclaimed the old man. "I've never heard of someone recovering this fast."
From the outside came a sudden barking then a pounding upon the door. "Open up!" a voice cried. "Open up! This is the military! We want the girl, and the Empire's Magitek Armor!" The old man jumped, and headed toward the door, calling, "Just a minute! I'm in the bathroom- I'll be right there!" He walked over to Aurora, opening a trap door in the floor beneath his bookshelf. "Quickly! Make your way out through the mines. I'll keep these brutes occupied." He handed her a short sword, and a long woolen cloak. "It's the best I can do. Make your way south, to Figaro. The king there will let you stay – tell him Arvis sent you. Go, quickly!"
Aurora strapped the sword on, and headed down the trap door, listening to it slam shut amid cries from the front, cries of "Give us the girl! She's an officer of the Empire!"
Puzzled, Aurora thought, Empire? Magitek Armor? What are those, and why do they sound so familiar? She quickly headed out, into the mines.
Looking over the mines of Narshe, one might conclude that they were useless- no gold, no silver, not even much copper. However, Narshe's mines contained something more useful than any of those- Narshe's mines contained Mirthil, the strongest of ordinary metals. Spelled gold, diamond, and crystal were harder- but Mirthil was the only metal that could be formed into Magitek armor. By launching that attack, the Empire was taking a great risk, Arvis thought. The Imperial generals are not idiots, and neither is Emperor Gestahl. Why, then, would they attack their one source of Mirthil, unless . . . He shook his head. There were no other sources of Mirthil, except in Doma; and even the Empire couldn't breach Doma's defenses.
More interesting than even the Empire's attack was what he held in his hand - a pair of silver eagles, taken from the shoulders of Aurora's jacket. Things, he was sure, were about to get interesting. An Imperial colonel – and a mage as well. What was her name again, now . . .He pulled down his files, and began to search for her picture. He found it not seconds later – Colonel Terra Vectoris, of the Imperal Army. He stared at the page for a few seconds, in shock. Not even the Emperor is that cruel – to use his own daughter like that! Things were getting stranger by the second. There was only one thing he could do, and he knew it. Arvis tied a message to his carrier pigeon, and set it free. He only hoped it could reach Figaro in time – and he hoped King Edgar could make better sense of it than he could.
As Arvis pondered, Aurora shook her head, baffled. How did she know where to go? Why was she able to fight? She couldn't remember a thing before she woke up – but somehow, she knew how to do all sorts of things- walk, fight, run . . . It was strange. Following the symbols on the mine walls (which she didn't know why she could read), Aurora continued through the mines. Finally, she saw a symbol in the corner she couldn't quite recognize – she couldn't remember what it meant, but it was awfully important . . . Did it mark a new vein of ore – or maybe an exit? As she stood there, the walls began to ring with shouting, as Narshe's guards surrounded her. She began to back up, against the wall- instinctively, she knew she couldn't fight them all if they surrounded her. Her head was level with the marker as she reached the wall- and the floor gave way. So, that's what it meant, she thought, and everything went black as she hit the ground.
When a slave crown erases memories, they are never truly gone- they merely are unattached. The victim can almost never access them when waking- but when they are asleep, the subconsious mind brings them to the forefront. It is part of the healing process. None of this would be of any consolation to Aurora, as she dreamed in her unconsious state.
***
Lastday, of Eightmonth, 292 AV
2:41:00 PM
The Imperial Capital of Vector
Her eyes opened, slowly, as she came to. Her mind still felt foggy, as she thought, Drugged. I've been drugged. Bastards. She got the shock of her life, when she saw Kefka in front of her. So . . . the Emperor really does care . . . he's even sent his personal mage to rescue me. Thank . . . Thank the Goddesses . . . As she became more aware of her surroundings, she realized she had been mistaken. Kefka was not there to rescue her- he was her captor. Opening her dry mouth, she gasped out, "Kefka . . . .Why? Wha . . .What's going on?" Kefka laughed then. She had always liked Kefka's laugh – rich and full of life. Hearing it now, she knew it for what it was- the sound of the grim reaper. She struggled against the manacles holding her to the chair, and screamed, "I am a colonel in the Imperial Army! You can't do this to me! When the emperor finds out, he'll have your head on a pike out front of the palace!" So saying, her voice lowered, and rasped out, "At least, kill me with dignity. I've fought for the Empire faithfully- grant me a clean death."
"Ah, Colonel . . . My pretty little magic user . . . Death is not what awaits you. With this Slave Crown, I'll practically own you! As for your precious emperor-, this is with his permission. You betrayed me, love. You told Leo what I had planned for Doma – and that good man, that honorable warrior, did not approve. You knew he would stop me from following my plan. Fool that he is, he cannot see that it will save lives – our soldier's lives. I am doing this for the Empire, dear . . . we can't trust someone we can't control. It is almost too bad you will not see what your powers can do. Goodbye, Terra".
She gasped and held her breath as the crown was lowered onto her head- and the world went black.
Firstday of Ninthmonth, 292 AV
2:23:55 AM
The Imperial Capital of Vector
A golden-haired woman in a white cape entered the room, long after Kefka had left, carrying a screwdriver. Moving quickly over to the inert form of the Colonel, she disconnected three wires in the device. The caped woman leaned over, and whispered in Aurora's ear, "Dearest sister . . . I'm afraid I can't save you this time. It's death for me if they find out I did this much. If you ever come out from under there now, at least you'll have some memories left. It's the most I can do."
She slipped a pendant around Terra's neck, and buckled it, tucking it under her shirt. "This will protect you. I only wish you hadn't given it to me for safekeeping . . . I swear I'll get you out somehow. Good luck, Terra. Good luck from all of us."
Moving quickly, on cat-quiet feet, the golden-haired woman slipped out the door, leaving no sound in the wake of her presence – and no evidence she was ever there. The pendant flashed silently, and began emitting a soft green glow. Inside Terra's mind, something stirred, for a moment, and her thoughts cut clearly through the haze of the Slave Crown. "Goodbye, sister . . . Goodbye, Celes."
Fourthday, of Ninthmonth, 292 AV, 12:28:21 AM
General's Personal Log: I can't sleep tonight. I know that I should; I'm going out on a mission tomorrow. However, I can't help thinking of a green-haired girl that trusted me, and I let down. Goddesses . . . I hate the wounds that never seem to mend. There's a scroll on my desk, a signed order from the Emperor. I've been ordered to take the city of Tzen, immediately. I've never questioned orders before. I wonder if I should now. Whenever I try to sleep, however, I see her face in my mind, as if she was standing there before me. She was to me as the daughter I never had.
When I was just 15, I enlisted in the Imperial Army. I've served Emperor Gestahl faithfully for 31 years, 6 months, and 21 days now. I was told by my Sargent that duty was paramount. When I was promoted to General, not quite 20 years later, my liege told me something I would never forget. He said, "General, to serve me, you must know this. I believe in who and what I am. No cause is worth abandoning your honor. These are the principles I've lived by, and these are the principles I expect you to live by. If you cannot, I cannot trust you to be my General." When he spoke those words, he owned my heart and soul. From that moment on, I wasn't just a soldier, but his soldier. The Cause was my love, and my passion. I lived, breathed, and ate The Cause.
I knew that the Emperor was the type of man we of Vector needed; and I pledged to protect him, and to keep all harm from him. Further, I later learned, he was better than I had expected, for he had taken in a young girl, an orphan, as I once was, and was raising her as his own daughter, and his heir.
Looking back, now, I'm not so sure if this is not why the Emperor insisted that no cause was worth abandoning my honor. I know what is happening to Terra – and I do nothing. I could have stopped it; I could have convinced the Emperor it was wrong. It might have cost me my rank, but I should have done something. I can't meet the eyes of my peers anymore. I can't even look into the mirror. I know what others see when they look at me. They see a tall man, standing proud, wearing the rank he has earned in a lifetime fighting for the Empire. When I look in the mirror, all I see is darkness. I can hear Celes knocking at my door now. I imagine she can't sleep any more than I can; she hasn't been able to since they told her Terra passed away. I only wish I could tell her the truth; maybe I should. It would be only just. However, I was ordered not to, and The Cause is my life.
Once, I said, "There comes a time when every man, and perhaps every god, needs to redefine his honor and his faith." I wish I could still believe that.
This is General Leo, signing off. Good night, and Godspeed, to all of us. May the Goddess protect us from ourselves.
Back in Narshe, the old man Arvis permitted himself a smile. Locke was on his way, and Aurora was on her way to Figaro. Once, he had thought that his cause was hopeless. Now, at last, the Returners had a chance. A slim one, but still a chance.