Author's Notes: Please review, I'll even take flames (but I'll cry if they say that Terra x Locke sucks, cause they don't). I just really wanna know what people think of this fic.
Couples: Terra x Locke, Celes x Locke (one-sided), Celes x Cid (brief mentioning)
on with the fic...
~*flashback*~
"Hey, Celes!" Terra said as she ran after the blonde girl, finally catching up.
"What?" Celes replied, feeling trapped. She never really liked Terra, everyone was always pouring over her. 'What's wrong Terra?' they would say. 'Is there something we can do for you Terra?' they would say. What about Celes? Terra isn't the only soceress around here.
Terra stood to catch her breath a moment. "Celes, I need to ask you a question."
"Get on with it girl!" Celes said, beginning to get annoyed.
"Have... Have you ever been in love?" Terra said nervously.
'Is... Is she falling for my man?! She better not be! Locke is mine... Even if he doesn't know it yet,' Celes thought angrily. Celes turned angrily and began to walk off, before Terra grabbed her shoulder.
"What's wrong, did I say something wrong?" Terra said dejectedly. This friend-making thing Locke and Sabin always talked about wasn't as easy as they made it out to be. Terra's jaw dropped when Celes wrenched free of the aqua-haired girl's grip. "Celes?" Terra said quietly.
'She's fallen for Locke... I just know it. I'll just tell her that...' Celes' thoughts trailed off. "Well, whoever this man is that you've fallen for, I wouldn't think he could love you back," Celes said, watching Terra's eyes begin to water from the remark, "There's just too many things about you... Your hair for instance. I won't even go into that!" Celes laughed, as Terra absentmindedly stroked her hair. "And... You need to wait til' you become a woman anyway," Celes said, pointing to Terra's breastplate, mocking her. "No man wants a little girl," Celes finished before she walked off, leaving Terra to fight off the tears that, despite her efforts, would be streaming down her porcelin cheeks.
~*end flashback*~
"Terra, is something bothering you?" Locke said, shaking Terra's shoulder lightly. "Earth to Terra!"
"What? Oh, I'm sorry Locke. I was just thinking about--" Terra replied, before a soldier walked briskly up to the pair and began speaking.
"General Leo has set up reservations for you two at the hotel," said the nameless soldier, who would most likely be killed before anything got resolved. "He will meet you at the dock in the morning. Do not keep him waiting," reported the soldier as he saluted and made his leave. Terra and Locke nodded to eachother and walked towards the Albrook hotel.
Before they made it to the hotel, General Leo walked up the cobblestone street, dragging a reluctant blonde behind him. "Locke and Miss Terra, wait," the general called after them. "Have you been briefed on what is to happen?"
"All, I've been told is for us to meet you at the dock in the morn," Locke replied.
"Yes, that is correct. Please be there at 8:00am sharp, we are to all have a meeting where instructions will be given. Until then, please get some rest," General Leo said. Celes remained quiet the entire time, staring warily at Locke and Terra.
"Thank you, we will do that. We'll be off," Locke said as everyone departed. Locke and Terra headed to the hotel.
"Can you believe Celes is alright? I'm so glad!" Terra said, happiness etched into her face. "I thought we would never see her again!"
"Yeah, that would've been a pity..." trailed off Locke. 'What is wrong with Celes? She always has something to bitch about, and now she acted like me and Terra weren't even there when we were talking to Leo. And to think, I actually thought I was beginning to fall in love with her during that time at the opera. Why do all the tall, leggy blondes have to be so cruel? I never could be with her, especially with how she's been treating Terra...'
"Locke. Locke, are you with me?" said Terra, waving a hand in front of his face. He still wasn't responding, so she hit him on the back of the head.
"What the-- oh, sorry Terra," Locke apologized, resurfacing to the real world again. "What did you say?"
"We're here," Terra replied, pointing to the door of the hotel.
~*later that evening*~
"Oh fine, you win again!" Terra said, mock angrily. That had been the tenth game of spades in a row that he had won. She winked at him, then yawned. "Oh wow, am I ever tired. I think I'm going to go to sleep now," she said getting up and streching her arms. "G'night Locke," Terra whispered laying down on the bed, letting her eyes slide shut as she buried herself in the covers.
"Goodnight Terra," Locke whispered to Terra's sleeping form. Suddenly Locke needed some fresh air.
Celes was standing out by the rail, watching the small stream run under the bridge. Locke went to stand beside her leaning on the rail. Celes side-stepped away from Locke. "I know I was wrong of accusing you of helping Gesthal. I'm really sorry Celes," he said, trying to make ammends with the brooding blonde. Suddenly her temper flared.
"Piss of Locke! I don't need your apology, I need you to stay away from me!" she hissed back, something dangerous dancing in her eyes.
"Celes, please..." Locke pleaded, putting a hand on her shoulder. "At least be kind to Terra, she never accused you of anything, she really likes to be around you."
"Terra this, Terra that. Tell her to piss off too, she hangs around you too much," Celes said angrily, shrugging off Locke's hand and storming off.
~*the next evening*~
"But I want to know now!" Terra sighed, her aqua hair accenting each word. After all this time, she still hadn't found her answer.
"We'll continue this conversation later. Ok?" Leo stated, not really making it a question. "We'll have a long day tomorrow, I'm going to retire to my quarters now." He walked into his small chambers, his long blue cloak billowing behind him.
"I want to know about love now. Why won't anyone tell me? First Celes wouldn't tell me in Narshe, now General Leo won't answer me. And anyone else I ask won't take me seriously. I asked Edgar, and he thought I had fallen for him," Terra giggled at how much of a fool Edgar had looked when he fawned over her. "But I know I'm not in love with him, even if I don't know what love feels like. All I feel when he's around is friendship..." Terra trailed off, watching the sea waves lap against the side of the boat. Suddenly a floorboard creaked behind her. "Did you hear what I was talking about?" Terra asked in a hushed whisper, whipping her head around quickly to see Shadow standing behind her, trusty Interceptor by his side.
"I didn't mean to overhear anything," Shadow replied.
"Well... Do you know about--" Terra began when Shadow interupted her.
"That's something that I can't give you advice on. You'll have to keep on asking," he said. Terra started to turn away to return to her room, discouraged from still not finding answers. Shadow reached out and grasped her shoulder, so she would stop a moment. "Some people have killed their emotions, just because some people can't or won't answer, doesn't mean nobody will. Don't worry, you'll find someone," Shadow said... well, as heartfelt as Shadow can get, but Terra got the point.
"Thank you," she said quietly before turning to her quarters. "Goodnight." She walked into her room and closed the door.
As if on cue, the comic relief stumbled onto the deck.
"Urgh! I'm think I'm gonna--" a very green-faced Locke gagged as he stumbled over to the railing and let loose his supper into the churning waves. Shadow made his exit. "Urgh!--" Locke cried out again as he disposed of his lunch too. Locke sighed and was going to go back to bed when her heard a noise coming from someone's room. He put his ear to a door, and heard sniffling coming from within it. "Can I come in?" he whispered through the door. He got a yes, and opened the door.
Terra was sitting on her bed in her robes, wiping at her red, puffy eyes. "What is it?" she said, not bothering to look up.
"Why are you crying?" Locke said, sitting down on the bed and putting his arm around her. "Please cheer up, tears don't suit you."
Terra leaned her head on his shoulder feeling a bit better now that he was here. "Locke..."
"What is it?" he said, encouraging her to go on.
"Locke, have you ever been in... love?" Terra whispered. For some reason, she was a lot more nervous asking him than she had been when asking anybody else.
Locke was taken aback, was this what she had been crying about? "Yeah, I've been in love before..." he said quietly. Suddenly memories of 'her' sprung back to bite him on the ass. It was quite painful.
"Really? What did it feel like... No one I've asked has answered me. I'm desperate, I really want to know!" she said hopefully, maybe she would get some answers this time.
"I..." Locke trailed off, not wanting to tell Terra about the girl he loved... no. Used to love, she was gone now.
"Please Locke?" Terra replied, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. She turned to study his face, finding an expression of pain on it. "Locke? Now you're upset! You shouldn't have come in here, look at you now," she said sadly.
He turned to look at her, their faces not but a half a foot apart. Tears had stopped running down her face, forming dried water paths on her face. Her aqua hair was a mess, night robes thrown carelessly around her. She looked like the most beautiful creature in the world to him.
Before either of them registered what was happening, their faces grew closer with each second. Five inches... Four inches... Three. Two. One. None. Their lips locked into a passionate kiss, Locke obviously being the more experienced one. Finally their need for air became too great and they separated panting, eyes still glued to eachother.
"Terra, do you still want to know what love is?" Locke whispered. Terra nodded. "Then I'll show you..." he said, laying her down onto the bed.
~*the next day*~
"We are to split into two groups, group one will head to--" General Leo said, giving everyone their instructions. "Lets head out!"
"Hey, Locke. We need to talk," Celes said, as everyone was leaving the ship.
"What's there to talk about? I don't have anything to talk to you about," he said, brushing her off. "Do I Terra?" She bit her lip and looked down. She and Locke had talked for a long time last night, and Celes had come up quite a bit. She was disgusted with the way the blonde soceress had acted toward Locke.
"But Locke... I really need to get something off my chest," Celes said. She hadn't really been that angry with Locke, and was trying to play hard to get. That plan had gotten her nowhere fast, so she was just going to tell him that she wanted them to be together, of course it wouldn't be forever, but she needed a guy, and quick. It had been forever since she had seen her old boyfriend, Cid. He would get over it.
"I already know what you need to get off your chest, how 'bout some of that stuffing!" he laughed, putting his arm around Terra and pulling her close.
Celes was horrified. "You... and her? No way. How could you love an esper?"
Locke snorted, and walked off, pulling Terra by the hand to follow Leo and the troops. Soon, he and Terra were out of earshot of Celes. He pulled Terra in for a quick kiss.
"Terra?"
"Is there something wrong?"
"No. Something's right though. I love you Terra."
"I love you too Locke. Stay with me forever?"
"Forever and a day."
THE END
Author's Notes: Aww, I love a happy ending. Review please! I need to know how badly it stunk or if *gasp* anyone thought it was good. Please be open-minded, I know there are a lot of Celes x Locke fans out there. I don't want any 'Terra's a beasthose! Celes and Locke forever baby!' reviews. Well actually, I'll take those reviews, but they might just make me cry. Thankies for reading!!!