Hey all, Weiila here. I'm very sorry about the lack of updates lately, but my summer job is practically eating my days and all my energy. This is why it takes me so long to get more stuff out to ya. Well, I hope that you enjoy this strange little chapter…

Chapter 22, Foreshadowing?

Terra returned to her, Celes and Relm's room. The women and girl shared a room due to the slightly cramped air in the partly mechanical fort. Castle Figaro was built to contain a people of merchants; people spending most of their lives on the road.

It was not really built to house refugees from half the world, however, so shared rooms and stressfully rebuilt storages were common things nowadays.

Terra entered carefully, as the light was low she guessed that somebody was already sleeping; only a candle on the small table beside her bed shed its illumination. Still, it was enough to see the room, as it wasn't a very big one. Relm was curled up on her bed already – the middle one – and sleeping. Terra's place of rest was on the right side seen from the door, and Celes' on the left.

Apart from the beds, there really was nothing in the room, save a big chest for clothes and equipment pushed into the closest left corner, three small bed tables and a chair standing behind the head of each bed to be used for rest or just to throw things onto. Relm's chair was covered with her hat, cloak, clothes and all the artist equipment she had been able to save – ranging from pieces of coal to her sketch pad. In other words; a mess. On Terra's chair was only a grayish, soft tunic that she used to sleep in.

Blond locks finally free from all the dark dye were sprawled over the sleeping girl's pillow, and she was snoring a little now and then. Nothing too bad though, the sound reminded more of a mouse's squeaking than anything else.

That reflection gave Terra a reason to muffle a laugh with her hand.

As she glanced further to her left, however, she frowned.

Celes' bed was empty. And it seemed that nobody had touched the blankets since the bed had been made earlier during the day. Her white sleeping tunic was still on its chair.

For a few seconds Terra pondered where her blond friend could be, but finally shrugged. Celes could take care of herself, and there were nothing in the castle that could possibly be of any threat to her. No use in wondering.

Kicking off her boots and quickly changing into her tunic, Terra headed to bed. Edgar wasn't the only one in the castle who was tired. Her whole body was starting to feel like it was made of concrete, and she gratefully closed her eyes while pulling the blanket over her weary form after she had blown out the candle.

It only took her a few moments to fall asleep.

Terra slept. And Terra dreamt.

It was one of those peculiar dreams of no sense. And also one of those that left an imprint in the dreamer's memory, making it as unforgettable as strange.

She laid in a great darkness, nothing beneath her, and neither above or around she realized when she got up on her knees to look around in confusion. Terra stood, still trying to orient herself. Her brain felt as if it was full of cotton, and each thought was a sluggish ordeal to go through. However, there was one thing she was certain of for a fleeting moment.

'This is a dream,' she thought.

Then that knowledge too was gone, lost in the obscurity of the empty world. Nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to hear, nothing to fear…

"Hmm…"

She turned around as she heard the voice and took a few steps backwards as she saw who had suddenly appeared in the void.

A metallic circle slowly spun around in Kerr's hand as he fiddled with it, the ring wide enough to fit around a human head. Definitely a human head.

In this world of her dream, Terra's emotions were as raw as those of a child. She bit her lower lip in a naked horror that she could not mask, unable to form a single word.

Kerr suddenly looked up, seemingly noticing her for the first time as his eyebrows twitched above the red-brimmed eyes of the pale face.

And then he smiled slightly, ironically.

"Ah, Terra…" he said, "'my very own magic user' and all that. Old days…"

The woman's fear changed into anger, she narrowed her eyes at the nonchalant way of which he spoke of her enslavement.

"I don't recall that as a pleasant experience, Kerr," she said, for a moment thinking clearly enough to hope that the hated name would strike a nerve. But why would that make him angry, anyway? She couldn't remember…

Though she couldn't recall her reasons, she felt a pang of disappointment when the madman didn't react to the name. Instead of answering, he stopped playing with the slave crown and held it straight upwards between the thumb and pointing finger.

"Mine's invisible," he said, without looking at her.

The statement confused her.

"Yours?" she said.

"Yes. Like this."

He let go, and the circle fell upwards into the darkness above the two figures.

Mesmerized by the strange sight, Terra followed the mind controlling instrument with her gaze as it lazily twirled its way out of sight.

As she looked back ahead, she found that Kerr had turned around and was walking away from her.

"Where are you going?" she called, without knowing why.

He glanced over his shoulder without stopping, still only smiling a little.

"Why are you following me?" he calmly shot back.

"We will never follow you!" Terra growled, not until it was too late remembering that that never had been what he asked.

"Then why are you?" Kerr commented, this time with his trademark smirk.

"I'm not…"

Terra fell silent as she realized that she actually was following the robed man.

"Don't trample on the prettyboy," he said, calm again as he simply stepped over Edgar's motionless body.

Terra dove to her knees, lifting the pale king from the nonexistent ground. His eyes were closed, but he seemed to be breathing and his face held no pained expression.

"Kerr!" the green-haired woman called, "did you do this?"

"I haven't done much in a while…" he idly said, without turning or halting.

Puzzled, Terra looked down at Edgar again. With a faint groan he slowly opened his eyes, sitting up by own force though his friend's hands still supported his shoulders. For a moment he glanced as Kerr's disappearing back, then at Terra. They nodded and stood up without a word, hurrying to catch up with the madman. They didn't need to talk, both of them just as all-knowing and lost in this dream.

Mog was the next one to melt into sight, just like Edgar unconscious at first but easily awakened. The moogle didn't protest nor question the hunt either.

The group of three then found Relm, closely followed by Gau.

Strago was followed by an unmasked Clyde, Interceptor "sleeping" beside his master. However, unlike the everyone else, the assassin was already sitting up and waiting for the others.

Sabin was the eight to be found.

Locke and Celes were found together, their arms protectively wrapped around each other even in the coma.

Setzer and Cyan were last, the latter lying with his hands forcefully pressed against his face.

Silently the strongest of all Returners assembled and followed their nemesis, none of them asking about why they were walking and not running to slit a throat.

Not too long after they had picked up Cyan, Kerr stopped and sunk to the dark floor.

When they came about four yards from the slumped back, the group of warriors halted their walk. Only Terra continued, stopping beside the madman and glaring down at the blond ponytail.

"What do you want with us, Kerr?" she demanded.

His neck bent further for a moment.

"Terra…"

She frowned. There was something about the voice that didn't sound right.

Tilting her head she saw what she hadn't before; the motionless body that the kneeling man was supporting. A pale face hung over the robed arm that tried to prop it up, blood-red lips slightly parted and eyes painted with a matching make-up shut.

"Gogo…?" Terra slowly said, uncertain.

The sitting one looked up, sadly shaking his head. A yellow veil covered most of his face, and the big feathers in his helmet waved at every little movement.

"They want to kill him, Terra," he bitterly said, "all of them. He will die."

"But… he killed you, didn't he?" she muttered, frowning.

So hard to think…

Gogo shook his head.

"He didn't kill me. Why can't you understand?"

"He's done too much to me, to everyone."

"I know… I know… but Terra…"

There was a rising panic in Gogo's voice; as he looked up again his eyes darted from side to side.

"Please, you have to understand! You have to, it'll be too late… Gestahl, he…"

An arm covered in dully brown cloth suddenly shot out of the darkness, a hand wearing a black glove grabbing Gogo's arm and tearing him backwards. He stumbled to his feet with horror blazing in his eyes as two faceless imperial soldiers appeared, grabbing the robed arms.

"Help me, Kerr!" he cried out as they began dragging him backwards, for each step taken all three of the men were growing transparent; melting into the blackness.

"Take him to the Coliseum!"

Terra whirled around at the new voice, coming face to face with Gestahl. She recoiled in shock, stumbling into somebody. Cold, long fingers crawled over her shoulders and squeezed them like claws. Wincing, the young woman looked to her side and found Kerr's face just above her right shoulder, eyes narrowed in hatred as they regarded the emperor. Unwillingly Terra followed his gaze and saw past the old but dangerous man.

Edgar and everyone else were back on the ground, an army of faceless imperial troops standing above them. Blood sparkles on the soldiers' brandished swords.

"No!" Terra croaked, and Kerr's hands pulled her backwards a few inches.

"Brother!" was heard from the darkness, Gogo's voice a fading scream.

"No," Kerr growled into Terra's ear.

The emperor regarded him, somewhat amused.

"Really, not?" the old man questioned.

"No."

Ice-cold flames spread from Kerr's grip of Terra's shoulders and onwards into her body, but she couldn't give voice to the pain. She wanted to scream, but her tongue and lips refused to obey her.

"Then you are dead to us," Gestahl said.

"I am dead to you."

Through the roaring in her head Terra thought that she heard the distant sound of a woman crying. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but she couldn't place it.

It grew closer, behind Kerr and his prisoner's back. The half-esper could turn around just as much as she could scream.

And then, through the sobs, a soft note shivered through the air. A harp was crying as well.

"Kerr…" the voice spoke, "haven't you done enough? Please don't do this too…"

"It is never enough," Kerr spoke, surprisingly soft.

His hands slid off Terra's shoulders and she stumbled aside, falling to the ground. The speaking woman was nowhere in sight.

Still unable to speak, the half blood only watched as Kerr and Gestahl stared at each other.

Slowly, almost absentmindedly, Kerr reached up and pulled the ribbon from his ponytail. Blond hair splashed over his back.

"You can't have him, Gestahl," the madman finally hissed, "he's my brother. He's mine."

"There was a time when I could have granted you that," the emperor calmly replied, "but now you will die just like him."

Faceless soldiers grabbed Kerr's arms from behind, but he didn't attempt to fight them.

Instead he coldly smiled, closing his eyes.

A flaring light erupted from his body, blinding Terra and forcing her to shield her eyes. All she saw was Kerr's robes being torn to shreds by the power that he had unleashed. And the soldiers falling as a pair of giant wings spread from the madman's back.

Gestahl raised his hands and a sickly green net shot out from his palms, growing quickly as it crossed the short distance.

Kerr fell to the invisible ground, only the lower part of his robes remaining. He was panting violently and the bare chest below the heavy net was covered in burns and bleeding cuts, more flesh than skin exposed. His wings laid broken, strangely metallic feathers scattered over the blackness around him.

"You will die, my pet," Gestahl coldly smirked.

He let the net fall and turned to Terra.

She tried to move away, but was still paralyzed. The emperor turned his palms at her.

She woke up with a shriek, sitting straight up as she was ripped out of sleep by her own terrified mind. Relm just muttered something and turned over in her bed, falling back into a deeper slumber once more.

Terra on the other hand needed several minutes before she could force the confusion and remaining horror into settling. This time she mostly spent trying to command her shaking hands into properly drying the cold sweat from her forehead with a corner of her blanket. Her throat was dry as a dead leaf, but she couldn't even consider seeking a remedy for this at first.

The surreal feeling that the dream had left in her was hard to shake off, and the strange scenes kept replaying themselves in her mind.

'What was that all about?' she wondered while laying back in an attempt to calm down properly.

'Terra?' Maduin's warmly growling voice floated into her unruly soul, sounding rather groggy as if he had awoken suddenly.

'I just had a dream, father,' she quickly assured, trying to calm herself as much as him.

'A bad one?' he gently asked.

'Yes. Though… I can't really explain it.'

'Let me see.'

He was silent for a few moments, then she felt him shake his head.

'Strange indeed.'

'Do you think it means something?'

Had it not been close to midnight and her mind hadn't been spinning at top speed after a nightmare, she would probably not have considered the possibility.

'Could be,' Maduin acknowledged but then added in a bit of a teasing tone, 'or you've just had too much to think of lately. Boys and all. You're becoming a big girl now.'

'Father!' Terra snapped, but she was smiling a little.

He chuckled softly.

'Don't worry about it, just get some more sleep,' he kindly ordered.

'I'll try.'

Terra closed her eyes and tried to block out the memories, but even with Maduin murmuring gently to her it took a long time before she managed to fall asleep again.