Chapter 4

Terra Branford was not, by nature, a violent person. While the other Returners busied themselves treasure hunting and wiping out any monsters or Kefka cult members that still remained, she was perfectly happy to stay in the town of Moblitz, which to be accurate wasn't really a town anymore, with her family. They weren't her family by blood, she didn't have any living biological relatives, but they were the ones who'd helped her realize the true meaning of love. They were the only people, aside from her friends, who'd seen her as a person. Not a monster or a weapon. So yes, Terra Branford was not a violent person, but she had made a promise to herself that she would protect her family and that was a promise she fully intended to keep.

The wind caused her emerald-coloured hair to sway as it rested loose against her back. Her eyes locked with those of the man, she guessed, was the leader of this little group. He stood a little further forward than the others. He had several curved throwing knives in his belt, but his hands remained by his sides. He turned his head to look at his immediate surroundings.

"Nice place, you got here." He said, facing Terra again. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I was told that this little crack in the middle of nowhere was home to an esper. Would you know anything about that, young lady?" His eyes narrowed tauntingly as he asked this.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you've wasted a trip. There is no esper here." Terra wasn't lying when she said this. The esper side of herself was gone; left for whatever spiritual realm her father and the other espers had gone to after Kefka had been vanquished.

The stranger's hand brushed the top of one of his knives.

"Are you sure?" He asked, gripping the handle. "We were hoping to meet this esper. We have… certain business with it." His men began to slowly advance towards Terra, who stood her ground. The last two were ginning wickedly, when they suddenly noticed that their shadows had gotten somewhat larger.

"I'll tell you again" Terra said, crossing her arms. "There is no esper here."

All the men suddenly turned as their two comrades were lifted into the air and thrown up into the tree tops!

"But there's a yeti." Terra continued. "Will that do?"

The three remaining intruders found themselves looking up into Umaro's dark eyes. The fur-covered creature towered above them, his fists clenched and his teeth bared.

"Kupo! If y'all know what's good for ya, you'd better vamoose!"

They then looked up even further to see, standing on Umaro's head, a small moogle.

"I'd advise you to listen to my friend." Terra said, gaining their attention again.

The leader sneered at her and reached into his pocket. Terra recognized what it was he took out. It was a smoke bomb! The dark man threw it to the ground and the immediate surroundings became shrouded in white smoke.

Blinking and covering her mouth, Terra stepped forward only to feel strong hands grab her from behind. Remembering a move Sabin had shown her, Terra hooked her foot around her assailant's ankle and swept his foot out from under him. As he stumbled, she planted her elbow in his face, knocking him to the ground.

Jumping back out of his reach, she could make out the silhouette of Umero charging around, trying to smash the bad guys.

"Umero, slow down! Kupo! There's one to your left! No, your other left!"

Seeing that they were having no luck in the smoke, Mog jumped down from Umero's head and started performing a dance. The wind began to pick up, slowly at first but then gathering speed and power. The smoke was cleared away and the attackers struggled to stay on their feet.

Now that his vision was clear, Umero charged at the men, knocking them down like bowling pins! With the danger over, Mog stopped his dance and ran over to Umero.

"Kupo! Way to go, big guy! All three of them down for the count!"

"Weren't there five?" Terra said.

On hearing this, Umero reached down and picked up Mog.

"Kupo! What're you – yaaarghh!" With a mighty heave, the yeti flung his small companion up into the treetops. There came the sound of two skulls connecting and the last two intruders fell to the ground, stunned. Mog tumbled down right after them.

Terra ran over to the moogle to see if he was alright. He had a sizeable lump on his head and was glaring daggers at Umero.

"Kupo! A dozen perfectly good rocks by your feet, and you throw me!"

Terra couldn't help but laugh. Suddenly, a huge shadow covered the three. They all looked up to see the Falcon turn in the air and touch down just outside of Moblitz.

"I have a feeling this is going to be one of those days." Said Mog.

"I think you're right." Said Terra.

(Scene Change)

It was ten minutes later, and Terra was sitting on one of the beds in the sleeping area of her house. Will, Elsie, and the rest of the children were with her. Once they'd heard that Umero had beaten up the bad guys, they'd all rushed over to see if their mama was alright. Duane and Katrin were also present. Katrin was holding their baby son, Leo.

Seated around the room were Edgar, Sabin, Cyan, Gau, Mog and Setzer. Celes, Locke and Umero were using one of the other houses to question the five captured men.

"T'is a lucky thing that Sir Mog and Sir Umero were visiting thy home." Cyan commented. "To think that five men would be sent after one young lady! Disgraceful is what it is!"

"That man talks funny." Elsie said, pointing at Cyan. She was shushed by Terra, who answered the knight,

"It seemed to me that they thought I was still part esper. They said they had business with me."

"Well, there are a number of ways they could've known your heritage." Said Edgar. "Pretty much all of Vector found out about you in the aftermath of the esper attack, and I'm sure word like that would spread quickly."

"Plus, how would they know that you weren't an esper anymore." Added Sabin. "I mean, we were the only ones who saw the espers disappear."

"I don't think it's important what they do or don't know." Setzer cut in. "What I'm worried about is what they want. These aren't just random attacks. They were specifically after Celes and Terra, and I want to know why."

"Sounds to Gau like they want to make more magic people."

Everyone looked to where Gau was sitting on a bed, stroking one of the children's labradors. He raised his head, noticed everyone staring at him and said,

"Well, is obvious. Celes got esper juice inside her, bad men think Terra still esper. They know about infusion. They want Celes and Terra's power to put in their own people."

Terra's face seemed to pale slightly.

"That means they were planning to drain me, just like the Empire drained my father."

At that point, the door to the room opened and Locke and Celes walked in. Locke had a triumphant grin on his face.

"Well folks, thanks to a little persuasion from Celes, Umero and myself, we've found out what these creeps are planning. Turns out they want to drain the magic out of -"

"Oh Locke, that's old news! What else did you find out?" Said Edgar.

Locke still had his mouth open and looked at the others in confusion. Celes decided to continue.

"The guy these goons work for goes by the name of Cerro. He's a mage warrior."

"Mage warrior?" The term was repeated throughout the room.

"I thought Strago was the only mage warrior left?" Said Setzer.

"He was the only one we knew about." Locke answered. "There were a few mage warriors who escaped after the war of the magi, and this Cerro guy is one of their descendants. Of course, after Kefka was defeated, he discovered he wasn't able to use magic anymore. He hired some mercenaries to get Terra and Celes for him by promising to teach them how to use magic too."

"A lot of good it would do them." Celes muttered. "I can't use magic anymore, even with my infusion."

"So, where is he now?" Asked Sabin.

"That, they didn't know." Replied Locke.

"Well, I for one think that if there are more mage warriors, then we should try to make contact with them. Invite them to rejoin the world." Celes raised her eyebrows at Edgar, who'd said this.

"You are talking about the people who wanted to drain Terra and myself." She said, coldly.

"Yeah, and what makes you so sure there are others?" Locke added.

"I'm just saying there's a possibility." Edgar replied calmly. "And if there are others, I feel we should try to make amends for what our ancestors did to them."

He stood up.

"First, I shall take those ruffians that attacked Terra back to Figaro Castle for imprisonment. Then I am going to Thamasa. If anyone should be able to help us find out where these mage warriors could be, it's Strago."

"I'll come with you, brother." Sabin offered.

"As captain of thy guard, it is my duty to accompany thou on this diplomatic mission." Said Cyan.

"I'm coming. I want to meet these mage warriors." Said Terra.

Everyone else agreed to come as well.

"Alright then, what are we waiting for?" Edgar dramatically flicked his cape over his shoulder. "Onward, to Thamasa!"