Chapter 3

Terra carried Shadow slowly to the infirmary. She could have taken off his mask to prove if he was Shadow, but in truth she had never seen his face before. She doubted any of the others had either. Once she asked if he would take his mask off, briefly, so they could see his face. He answered coldly, "Never touch my mask. Never take it off. Never ask me to take it off. I will never take it off in front of others." She'd nodded and walked away.

She lay him on a bed and a doctor hurried over. She quickly instructed him, "Do not treat the injuries on his face. He will take care of them himself. Do not touch or take off his mask." It had always been that way when they fought together. Any injuries on his face, he took care of himself. He never allowed the others to touch his mask. The doctor nodded and Terra hurried out to see Sabin. Edgar was already there.

"Let's just go in." Sabin said. "There's a lot that needs to be explained." The four headed into the castle and into Edgar's room. He shooed the servants away, who had been awakened as well. As they sat, Edgar told his brother,

"First loosen his bonds. There's a guard outside anyway, and with the four of us here, there's not much we can do." Sabin responded by taking a claw and cutting the rope. Locke felt the burned skin of his wrists. Then he began.

"I was out looking for Locke, when in the forest between Narshe and Figaro, I found these two fighting. Well… not fighting, exactly. There were signs of a fight, but Locke had apparently won. Only he didn't seem to be satisfied. He was yelling something to Shadow, kept calling him 'Clyde', and kept slashing at him with his dirk. Shadow was just taking it, he wasn't even responding. I broke up the fight, disarmed Locke easily, and took away his sword, then tied his wrists together.

"I don't even know why they were fighting. And… Shadow's alive. I mean, if you think about it it's possible. He might have escaped the tower a different way, or later than us, and stayed out of contact for whatever reason… who knows. I'm not sure who started the fight so I tied them both up and took them to the nearest place… here. Neither of them will explain a thing."

"Locke…" Edgar began. "Please. Will you please explain to us what the hell's going on?" Locke barely responded, only with a slight twitch of the head gesturing, 'no'.

"Locke." Terra caught his face in her hands pulled his head up to make him look at her. "I don't know what the hell's going on and neither do they. But if this is some kind of personal grudge against Shadow, we understand. We don't want either of you killed but we really need to know what's going on. We're… involved in this too, you know. I mean, I thought Shadow was dead. Then you…" She trailed off.

"And you thought I was supposed to be a sweet, loving, person, right?" He finished for her. Not bitterly, just emotionlessly. "This has gone on far too long. I know who Shadow is and I only need to take his mask off for proof."

"Locke," Terra said patiently. "He never takes his mask off."

"Exactly!" He cried. "My point exactly! Why does he keep it on?" His eyes narrowed. "Because he knows me. And he knows he let me be killed in the worst possible way, only I survived, and…"

"What do you mean? How do you know Shadow?"

"Let's go visit Shadow." Locke said abruptly. They exchanged glances, then Terra whispered to Edgar,

"We can keep an eye on him. It may… help, though."