This is an interesting post to me because I don't like one chapter and I love the other. It seems to me that I love the chapters that I wrote a long time ago...but I don't really like the newer ones. Maybe it's because I've spent so much time editing them and whatnot? Oh well. Yeah, I really don't like this chapter, but oh well. Okay, it's not that terrible...but compared to the other chapters that I've written, it's not up to par. It's kind of repetitive and stuff...but oh well. There's only like ONE thing in here that is foreshadowing and that's kinda rare for me. Usually it's like five or six things in each chapter. Anyway, this is another 'in game' chapter and takes place after chapter 26. (Oooh, I think after this two chapter post, I'll break 100,000 words! That's a record for me so far!)

28. Reunion

"Locke, come on," Terra pleaded, slightly pulling on the sleeve of his tee-shirt as they walked through the fields toward Albrook. Locke had his hands dug deeply into his pocket, his teeth clenched together, and he hadn't spoken a word since they left Vector. "What's wrong?"

"I told you," he responded with a sigh, speaking through his clenched teeth. "I just have a bad feeling about the situation. I'm just going along with it for your benefit, so you owe me big time."

"Oh," Terra replied under her breath. "I see."

Locke huffed and shook his head at her response. "There are two things that I've wanted to do in Vector for a few weeks and now I'm leaving without doing either of them. I looked, but I should've known that it was useless."

"What are you talking about?" Terra asked as Locke shrugged his shoulders. "More secrets. Got it. So, being in the Returners is more like a vengeance gig for you then, isn't it?"

"I guess you could call it that," Locke admitted with a half smile. "Being in the Returners has helped me keep a closer eye on the Empire, thus giving me clues to solving everything. One day I'll have it all sorted out. I hope."

"You will," Terra said, gently rubbing his back with her right hand. "You'll need your resolve one day or else you'll go insane. You'll find your peace of mind sooner or later."

"I just wish it was sooner rather than later," Locke mumbled as they walked toward the entrance of Albrook. Although there weren't any more soldiers, the town was still oddly quiet. The citizens were walking around in silence, looking at Terra and Locke out of the corner of their eyes. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," Terra whispered, going closer to Locke so he could hear her. She pointed to something near the center of town and Locke followed her finger. "Look, there's a soldier. Maybe he'll know where General Leo is."

Locke chuckled and fixed his bandana. "Ya know, I can't believe I'm actually going to approach an Imperial soldier. This is something that I never thought I would do peacefully."

"There's a first for everything," Terra stated with an optimistic smile as they made their way to where the soldier was standing on guard. He raised an eyebrow when he saw them and Terra nervously put a strand of hair behind her ears. "Um, hi."

"Can I help you?" The soldier asked harshly, not putting down his stature or softening his gaze.

Locke saw Terra swallow, so he figured he was going to have to be the one to explain. "Hi, we were sent here by the Emperor. We're looking for General Leo, I believe."

"Ah, you must be from the Returners," the soldier replied, a small smile appearing on his face. "General Leo's waiting for you at the docks. Please, follow me."

Exchanging glances, Terra and Locke obeyed and followed the soldier to the dock area. There were several soldiers from the Imperial Navy bustling about, preparing the ship for the journey. Locke looked around and saw General Leo standing on the deck of the ship talking to several more soldiers. There are too many soldiers here…He thought uneasily, biting at his lip. General Leo smiled when he saw them walk down the dock.

"There you are," General Leo stated, walking down the ramp to stand on the deck. "I was starting to think that you got lost or something happened to you. I'm thankful that you proved me wrong."

"Yeah, we found it just fine," Locke replied, his sentence slowing down when he noticed that General Leo wasn't alone. There were two people behind him, a man in black armor and a very familiar blonde female. He crossed his arms and glared at the woman, then back at the general. "I didn't know we were traveling with other people."

"It wasn't in the original plan, but the Emperor Gestahl believed that strength in numbers was going to be the way to go. I hope you don't mind. Another of the Empire's generals and a person I hired in town will be traveling with us," Leo began to explain. Unlike Locke's, his voice was calm and he pointed to the two people. "Let me introduce them to you. This is General Celes Chere, and this is Shadow."

Celes nodded her head at Locke, but he didn't weaken the strength of his gaze. "Hi," Terra said cheerfully, elbowing Locke in the stomach to change his attitude. "It'll be a pleasure to travel with you."

"Yeah, it'll be nice to travel with you 'again.' A general 'again.'" Locke mumbled with a scoff, shaking his head as he looked away from Celes. He meant to speak to himself, but the words slipped out before he knew what had happened. General Leo turned his head back toward Locke and narrowed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Locke shook his head at the General's question. "Oh, my mistake. However, is something wrong?"

Locke cleared his throat and put a fake smile on his face. "No. Nothing's wrong. Why would anything be wrong?"

His reply made Terra frown, Celes look down at her feet, and confused General Leo. A soldier walked up to where the five of them were talking, and the young general turned toward him. "Sir, the captain would like to have a brief word with you."

"Tell him I will be there in just a minute." The soldier saluted then walked back onto the ship. Leo let out a sigh and motioned toward the ship. "Anyway, our departure isn't till tomorrow. I've arranged some lodging for you in the mean time. The inn at the northern side of town will be expecting you.

"Thank you, that's very kind," Terra stated with a smile. "What time shall we meet up tomorrow?"

"I don't want to leave at a late hour, so I'm thinking nine o'clock," Leo said as he looked at the elegant watch that adorned his wrist. "Until then, have a pleasant night, and please get some rest."

Locke nodded as General Leo turned around and walked onto the ship. He looked back up at Celes; she still had her face pointed to the ground and she dug the toe of her shoe into the ground to avoid eye contact. Shadow had his back turned away from the three of them and watched Interceptor walk around the dock. Terra turned back to Locke and gave him a pleading look.

She motioned with her head to talk to Celes, but Locke only exhaled and swallowed. With a sigh, she took a few steps toward the blonde general. "Celes, I…didn't know you were working for the Empire again."

Celes didn't respond or even look up at Terra. What is going on here…Locke thought to himself as he mustered up enough courage to walk closer to where she was standing. She completely turned her head away from him, then with a sigh, she ran onto the ship.

"Celes…" Locke said with a bow of his head. He saw Terra look at him and he shook his head. "Well, that went well."

"Come on, Locke." She gently put her hand on his arm and motioned toward town. "General Leo's right; we really should get some sleep. With everything that's been happening lately, none of us have gotten the amount that we need."

"Why is she working for the Empire again?" Locke asked, mostly to himself as he looked up at the young girl. "Was that her plan all along? Was she just a spy to get more information out of us?"

"Don't think that way," Terra scolded as they began to walk to the inn. "You know that's not it. Besides, the Imperial Army is part of the Returners now anyway. So, she's still technically part of the Returners, but she's just not adventuring with us."

"You're always so optimistic," Locke said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked at the ground but he knew that Terra was still smiling. "I know that might be her intentions, but you would think if that was the case she would still talk to us. It's almost like she's embarrassed that she's by Leo's side again."

"Well, then you just need to convince her that everything is still fine between her and the rest of us." He whipped his head up and narrowed his eyes at her. "What is it?"

He curled his lip in annoyance and huffed. "Why am I the one who has to do it? Why can't you? You both can use magic, so don't you have an automatic bond or something?"

"First of all, just because we both possess the power of magic doesn't mean we understand each other. Secondly, you know her better than the rest of us. You were the one who rescued her," Terra mentioned, causing Locke to scoff.

"Yeah, I rescued her from the bastards that she ran right back to." He opened the door of the inn for Terra and let her walk in. He walked up to the innkeeper, frowning at the smile that was on the man's face. I'm not in the mood for cheeriness…He thought as he looked at Terra to do the talking.

"Good evening," she chirped happily, nonchalantly kicking Locke in the shin to break his attitude.

"Ow, dammit!" He cried through clenched teeth, rubbing his sore leg with his other foot. "What the hell was that for?"

Ignoring Locke's complaints, Terra continued to smile at the innkeeper. "We're here with General Leo and he informed us that he reserved a room for my friend and I tonight."

"Yes, here are your keys," he replied, grabbing two keys off the counter and giving them to Terra. "It's the first room on the right. Please have a pleasant night."

"Thank you," Terra said as she handing one of the keys to Locke, who was still grumbling over the fact that his leg was throbbing. When they started to walk back to their room, she glared at him.

"Would you please knock it off? You're making a complete fool out of yourself, not to mention that you're embarrassing me."

Her words made him clench his teeth. "Maybe I'm just tired or something, I'm sorry. You're right, I've hardly gotten any sleep lately so I need to just lay down or something."

She opened the door then put the key into her pocket. "You know, you think too much. If you just clear your mind every once and a while, you wouldn't be as stressed and you would be able to sleep."

"Thanks, mom," he teased with a half smile and entered the room. With an exhale, he sat down on one of the beds and started to take off his shoes. "I'll try that right now because I feel like I'm going to pass out right here."

She giggled and stretched her arms over her head. "Well, that works too. Good night, Locke." She yawned and flicked the switch to turn off the light.

"Night," he replied, hugging the blankets closely to his chest as he closed his eyes.

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Yeah, so much for the sleeping tactics, Terra…Locke thought bitterly as he looked up at the ceiling. He could hear her softly breathing as she slept and he wished that he were doing the same. Although he tried to fall asleep numerous times during the night, he was still awake. Every time he would start to doze off, a new thought process would start and it would wake him back up.

He put his hand on the table next to his bed and blindly felt for his watch. When he grabbed it, he squinted to see the time. What? It's only 2 in the morning? It feels so much later than that…He sat up and put his feet on the floor, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Feeling the gentle breeze that swept through the room from the open window on the far wall, he decided that going outside would be a new atmosphere to think in rather than staying indoors.

As quietly as he could, he put his clothes on and left the room, locking it behind him. He knew he wasn't going far from the inn, but he wanted to make sure that no one was going to get past him and get to Terra. With a polite nod to the innkeeper at the front desk, he left the building and walked outside into town.

The moonlight lit up the ground and reflected off the cobblestone, providing more than enough light for Locke to see where he was going. He leaned against the railing to look out at the sea, but something moved to his left. Whipping his head in that direction, he saw Celes playing with her hair and looking down at her feet.

"Celes…" He began gently, hoping that she could hear him. She didn't respond, so he cleared his throat and started to walk closer to her. "It's late. What are you doing out here? I, uh, take it you had trouble sleeping as well?"

Again she remained quiet, so he took another step toward her. "Celes, come on. Why won't you speak to me? I know you can hear me." He bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Celes, I'm sorry. Even if it was only a little…I doubted you. But I want you to know that no matter what happens, I'm still your friend."

He heard her high heels click on the stone and he looked up at her and saw that she had begun walking away. "I won't stop protecting you, either." She stopped, so Locke felt relief.

Before he could say another word, she bowed her head again then ran toward the other side of town. He didn't want to make a scene so late at night, so he walked back over to the railing and looked down at part of the town that was below. Yep, no sleep for me tonight…He shook his head and let out a lengthy sigh at his thought.