Finding Fate

Author: OceanOfHell

Rating: R

Summary: What happened if Terra had not joined the party after the statues destroyed the world of balance? Would a relationship ever develop between her and her handsome prince? (most definitely a lemon, but not enough to make it rated NC-17).

r & r please

Prologue ~ Beginnings (Edgar)

The airship had fallen apart, and all he could do was think about his friends. None of them had washed up with him near the city of Albrook, he was alone for the first time. A sailor had found him floating face-up near the docks and quickly pulled him onto land. The sailor and his friends took him to the inn, where they made sure he found medical attention, with the rest of the people who had been injured after the destruction. He suffered through a fever for a week before his temperature decreased and he was able to wake up. His clothes had been destroyed and he was supplied with some regular clothes: simple brown pants and a lighter brown shirt. He was completely satisfied for the time being to just stay in Albrook and make a living fishing and supplying food for the people who lived there and were unable to supply it for themselves.

However, his inner workings would not allow him to do so. After staying in Albrook for a month since he had recovered, Edgar soon found himself to be restless. Instead of fishing, all he wanted to do was climb onto a boat and sail away on some other adventure. He had tried to leave before, but the monsters that inhabited the wilderness surrounding Albrook were too strong for him at the moment. So instead, he stayed close to Albrook and fought, building up his strength and fighting ability again.

Over a period of about four months, Edgar's strength (and purse) grew and he was finally able to leave the city of Albrook and head north. After many days of travel, he reached the desperate town of Tzen. He made sure that he checked the whole city to see if he could find any of his friends, but nobody was there (yet). He heard a rumor flittering through the tiny town that Figaro castle had survived the destruction, but was stuck somewhere underground. He stocked up on items and headed north. When he hit the coast, he figured that he would follow it and hopefully come to another city. West of Tzen, Edgar reached a split in his path, he could go right or left up a winding piece of land. Having nothing to lose, he flipped a coin, heads he would go left, tails he would go right. It landed on heads and so he turned up the left path, with a horrible feeling that he was leaving behind something to the right, but he had to find his way to Figaro.

Through desert and forest, by a circle of tall mountains, Edgar finally made his way to another city, the city of Nikeah. With the extra money that he amassed, Edgar baught some clothes that looked like his old ones. He managed his way to the tavern and sat there drinking and resting, waiting until he heard something about his missing city.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After a month and a half of waiting, it finally happened. A band of robbers came into the tavern and occupied the table next to where Edgar was sitting and started whispering excitedly. However, they did not realize just how loud they were 'whispering' and Edgar heard the whole conversation about how they wanted to break into an underground path to enter a sunken Figaro and steal some great treasure in the buried castle.

Walking boldly up the group, Edgar addressed them. "You'll need somebody who knows about the castle."

The thieves eyed him warily.

"Yeah?" one replied. "What would you know about Figaro?"

Edgar snorted. "Unlike any of you, I have actually been through the whole castle and know how to navigate my way through it. Get me there and I'll get you your treasure."

Another thief stood up and argued, "How do we know that you're not really going to turn us in as soon as we break into the castle."

Without replying, Edgar reached to his side and pulled out his purse and threw each thief two gold coins which they slipped into their pockets greedily. "Is that good enough for you?"

The thieves introduced themselves clockwise around the table.

"My name is Gerad."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They were just getting ready to leave when Edgar looked out the window of his inn room. News of two travelers had reached his ears, so he quickly died his hair, knowing that they were his friends. He did not want to blow his cover before he got to Figaro castle and freed it. He stood in the market buying some items before he would travel to South Figaro when they saw him. He hurried away before they could make too much of a scene and found his robber friends and headed towards the boat to reach his destination. They took him on a path through South Figaro and headed towards the cave that he knew all too well. This time, they jumped across the healing spring and went through an unknown part of the cave, collecting treasures as they went.

They finally reached the dungeons of the castle and he quickly led them through to the other side, where they would find the treasure of Figaro. He had other ideas in his head though, he was going to free his castle from whatever it was that got it stuck. When he came to the engine and saw the mess of tentacles, he knew he was going to need help, but his thief friends would not be much help. That was when Celes and Sabin showed up and helped him clear the engines of any yellow, wriggling mass.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After Celes and Sabin joined Edgar, they finished the adventure in which they had started in the World of Balance. They traveled around the world finding all of their friends: Setzer, Cyan, Gau, Shadow, Relm, Strago, Locke, and Mog. They even had two new additions to their group: Gogo and Umaro. A few returned to Mobliz, but did not include Celes or Sabin, therefore they did not know that Terra was there. The town had been so ravaged by Phunbaba that Terra, Duane, Katarin and the children had gone into hiding inside the basement of one of the houses (y'know, the one where Katarin had hid when Duane started arguing that Terra wasn't going to leave). When the party of four Returners entered the town, a powerful Phunbaba quickly attacked them, but they defeated him for good and he would never return to the desolate city. The party searched around the city for survivors, but none were found so they left the city behind them and attacked Kefka with a vengeance.

After a long, challenging battle, the thirteen friends destroyed all three forms of Kefka and destroyed the statues along with him. Almost all the magic drained out of the whole world, except for Terra, who had been born with her powers, and Celes, who had been artificially infused with them as a child, but even then the magic was very weak.

*AN: There's an overview of what happened to Edgar and about 200 words about how they defeated Kefka… next up we'll actually begin the real story.

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