Chapter 10: Interlude

She slips into the underground tunnel silent and unseen, hiding beyond their sight is nothing for her. She is one of the most powerful seraphs, but they ignore her now, leaving her to her own devices and she prefers it that way. They likely think she's too fallible, even so it doesn't change her experience or power.

Making her way quickly down the tunnel, she stops outside the room holding the young seraph. It's all quiet inside which means now is one of the few times they've let him rest. Seymour won't be back for a while, he has other things to see to, but she has to take care of the guard inside or he'll sound the alarm and far too quickly, they'll search for the boy in the same place she's taking him.

It's nothing to cut down the guard hovering inside the room, a split second faster than it took him to recognize her. Someone who enjoys such violent torture is no loss to the world.

Her lavender eyes take in the sight of the half dead seraph. The soiled clothes, sweat matted hair, the pink stained wings and puddles of blood below him, it's more than any person, certainly one so young, should be made to bear, yet somehow Seymour thinks he is the righteous one.

She places a hand against the side of the boy's face, rubbing her thumb against a tearstained cheek and red swollen eyes. The gentle touch makes him stir and he blinks exhausted eyes open, but doesn't really see her, he no longer has the energy for it. His head merely leans against her palm listlessly as he sinks back into sleep.

There's no help for him here, the blocks on the room are too strong and while she could break them, Seymour would notice if they were 'll have to escape before she can help him heal. With deft fingers, she unshackles him and slips her own cloak around him, noticing how the back soaks through with blood almost immediately. He'll need a deep recovery from this. A gentle hand on his head and his shallow breaths drift into something deeper and slower, then together they disappear back out into the world.

The boy can't stay with her, not even for a second. Her part is over once she delivers him. She lands carefully at the entrance to the grotto where the seraphs, Cloud and Leon, reside together. The outside is lovely, surrounded by colorful flowers and she can only assume it's because of the blonde. The brunette doesn't seem the type to care about much more than functionality.

She shifts the bundle in her arms and calls out to them, anxious to be away from here. He's already beginning the healing process, but they need to be out of sight. Leon approaches first, wariness in his gaze when he catches sight of her lavender eyes. She understands this. Her face is rarely ever seen, he must think her presence is bad news from the council and unfortunately it is, just not in the way he thinks.

Silently, she holds her arms out to him, urging him to take the bundled form from her. Leon takes a suspicious step back and shakes his head no. There is no time for this though, she steps forward faster than he can react and shoves the bundled boy into his arms, "He mustn't stay here."

She hears his sharp intake of air as the top of the cloak comes undone and she's already flying away as he calls for his other half.

They won't reveal her, of this she has no doubt, but if they do, she'll take whatever punishment they throw at her. It was the very least she could do after abandoning her son, saving the boy he loves can only be a start to making up for that.

~~~~~
Terra was in the vale with some of the younger seraphs when she was given the news that her brother had been lost in battle. They don't believe he's been killed, but instead captured by demons as a prisoner of war, so as good as dead to the council. They have no expectation of ever seeing him again. One of their best and they wouldn't even attempt a rescue. Her brother had been the only remaining family she had now, he had been her closest friend, a confidante, her everything since birth. And he was one of the strongest warriors they had, so much that he had come to be known only as the Warrior of Light.

Terra had argued and argued with the council, pleading with them to organize a rescue for her brother, but they hadn't listened and her arguments fell on deaf ears. 'He had a responsibility,' she was told. 'This is what happens when you fulfill your duty. His loyalty and bravery were to be commended, others should follow his unwavering example.' The Warrior of Light had represented the Seraph's strength and now unfortunately, he had met his inevitable end. Eventually, they refused to see her anymore and by then she'd made up her mind.

Rescuing her brother was something she'd have to do on her own. If he was dead, there was nothing she could do, but if he was alive...she couldn't leave him to a fate at the hands of demons. Death would be a blessing compared to the literal hell he was in now.

One night, slipping away from the watchful eyes of the council, she escaped into the human world. From there, she did whatever was necessary to gather information on the Warrior of Light's whereabouts. She made pacts, traded favors, interrupted the human world in subtle, yet unnatural ways for her ultimate goal until she finally discovered the truth.

A slave and prisoner to one of the ruling female demons.

Finding information on her brother didn't bring her the relief she'd sought. Instead, she was filled with despair. If Terra knew her brother, death would be preferable to his life now, but it didn't look like she'd even be able to give him that. He'd taken such good care of her and in the one thing he needed, she'd failed.

Her only option was to return home a failure and she'd resigned herself to an eternity of loneliness before another demon approached her. She remembers recoiling from him, he was broken, disfigured, maimed, even missing a wing. His one damaged wing fluttered weakly as he announced his name, Sephiroth, and offered her a deal. If she healed him, he would rescue her brother in return. Terra had very nearly scoffed in reply, what could he do better than she could? She was one of the strongest warriors in her realm and he was a disfigured, crippled demon. She'd be better off alone.

"Only because they intentionally keep me this way," he'd argued in a surprisingly strong voice. Deep, rich, and full of confidence. "They're afraid of me." He continued on, ignoring her disbelief, "I know the ways in and once I'm healed, I'll have the strength to get him out."

She didn't believe him, not really. How could a mere healing create such a drastic change? No, she didn't believe him at all, but what she did have was a flicker of remaining hope. What if? That single thread of doubt pushed her to do what previously she would never have considered. Reigning in her disgust, she did what needed to be done. Terra had the healing and if he was telling the truth, Sephiroth had the means.

The extent of his abuse took more healing than she could do in a single time. Whoever hurt him wanted him disfigured, weak, and out of the way permanently. She wished she could say it was only once, but in truth, it took several times before Sephiroth regained his full strength. And when he did, she saw the truth in his words.

Before her stood glory that only a Seraph could possess and she begin for the first time to wonder what she had actually done and who he really was. Strong gray wings beat a vicious pattern of wind towards her, never tangling in the flowing silver hair that poured past his waist. Piercing emerald eyes stared back at her from a face of flawless beauty. He could have easily been mistaken for one of her own, if not for the unholy glow surrounding him. Where Seraphs had a golden glow, his was more muted and dim, a twilight glow of dusk.

For that moment, she feared him and what damage someone holding such strength could do.

Despite no longer having a use for her, he kept his word. Sephiroth delivered her brother to her, broken and very nearly destroyed from his time among the demons, but alive. She knew he'd never be the same again, yet she felt only relief and gratitude from his return.

Returning home with her brother was simultaneously the happiest and saddest she'd ever been. On one hand, she was no longer alone, yet her brother now barely spoke a word. Even as she nursed him back to health, the vacant eyes and distracted mind never ceased. The Warrior of Light would give her the rare smile, but something was broken inside.

A few months later, she found herself pregnant and she couldn't handle the responsibility, not now, maybe not ever. Although, nor could she bear to do the alternative. She's not sure how her brother knew, but somehow he did and he never judged her, only supported her in whatever decision she chose. Terra had always harbored a soft spot for children, killing her own never crossed her mind, not once.

She had him on earth. In a small superstitious village that knew of the existence of Seraphs and demons, they delivered him and she begged to see surprise was blatantly obvious, most Seraphs wanted their halflings disposed of immediately. Despite how much he looked like his father and even the family resemblance of her own brother, seeing those innocent teal eyes staring up at her surrounded by soft tufts of silver hair, yet not being able to keep him broke her heart. Her tears flowed knowing what she was about to do as she cradled him close and begged his forgiveness.

Before she returned home, Terra named him Riku, after the land. Something so strong that it could endure whatever came it's way and she left him at a human orphanage to rejoin her brother in a world so full of it's own hubris that it would never change or see the grime that lay beneath its own ideals of perfection. There, the broken Warrior of Light held her as she cried for her son and for him.