Tools of the Empire

Chapter 3

Terra and Ultros eyed each other warily, each waiting for the other to make a move.

Suddenly, Ultros squirted some ink into Terra's eyes, and the half-Esper tried desperately to rub it out with her hands. which only caused the ink to spread deeper.

"As long as you can't see me, you can't flame me." Ultros said smugly. "That's called strategy, darling. Stra. Ta. Gee. Understand?"

Ulrtros didn't wait for an answer as he whipped Terra with a tentacle, sending her flying to the ground. Her head lay inches away from the spring, and that last attack had broken a few ribs.

Ulrtos grinned. "Yes! Finally! I WIN!" He cackled.

"Fungaah!"

Suddenly, Ultros gasped as Celes got up and impaled the royal molusc with her sword. Purple blood dripped from the octopus' body, and he fell, gasping for air.

"Never hurt her again." Celes replied coldly, wiping th blood from her blade.

"H-how!?" Ultros croaked.

"That spring seems to have healing qualities." The blonde Runic Knight replied. "I'm sure even your wounds will be healed in time, seeing as you were in that spring not too long ago." She walked over and picked Terra up, taking care to fill up her canteen. "Until then, we'll be going. I pray we never cross paths again, for I WILL kill you." She walked away, with Terra drapped over her shoulders.

Ultros gasped in pain. Chupon carfully lifted the octopus up with his wind powers.

"I...WILL....beat them..." Ultros choked out.

And then he fell unconcious.

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A while later, Celes had set up camp, for it was getting dark, and Terra was up and walking again, though not very well. Her injuries were quite bad, and she had to have her side bandaged up. They didn't want to use the spring water unless it was an emergency.

"Thank you." Terra said, sitting across from Celes. "Your injuries were probably worse than mine, but you still went out of your way to save me."

The blonde gazed at the half-Esper. "It was nothing. I'm your comrade, that's what comrades do."

Terra sighed. "Yeah, I suppose."

"What's wrong?"

The green-haired woman looked away. "It's just....we hardly know each other, we've barely had a chance to talk to each other, and yet here we are, alone together, trying to find our friends and complete our mission. I just wish...that we could try to be more than comrades. I want to get to know you, to be your friend."

Celes inhaled deeply. "Very well then. What do you want to know?"

"Well, first off, I'd like to know a bit more about yourself."

"That's a tough one. I...don't really remember much of my childhood, or my parents. Side effects of being experimented on, I guess. I have lived my whole life in service to the Empire, but when I saw the horrible things we were being forced to do by the Emperor...I just....I just couldn't stand it, and I rebelled. They locked me up, and I ended up being rescued by Locke, and joining the Returners."

Terra nodded. "That sounds kinda like me. I don't really remember much of my life, and what I do remember is still a little fuzzy. And, like you, Locke was the one who helped me, and allowed me to join the returners. "Sh chuckled wryly. "We have a lot more in common than I had thought."

Celes smiled. "Yeah, that is surprising."

They talked a little more, discussing what had happened to themselves recently, and what they would do after they got back together with the others. Eventually, as the campfire died out, and they ran out of subjects to discuss, they went into their tent and went to sleep.

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The Empire had betrayed him, had betrayed everyone come to that, but Shadow didn't really care about others. He was a loner, someone who lived without companionship, save for that of his loyal dog, Interceptor.

Now, he plotted, trying to come up with a plan to get revenge on the Empire that DARED to dishonour a contract.

Soon, they would know what it meant to betray a contract with Shadow.

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Kefka was bored. He wanted to do SOMETHING, maybe raze a village, but that wouldn't be suffiecient.

He gathered the power he had gained from both the magicite and the Goddesses, and focused it together to form a monster. A Mad Esper.

"Go, my minion!" He commanded. "Go and...DESTROY!!!"

The creature roared, and flew off, immediately setting off to do its master's bidding.

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A short one for now. I've had some major writer's block, so I decided to just end it there.

I apologise for how I ended the Ultros fight, but that's just how it ended up. Also, hould Ultros die, or should he stay alive, and come back YET AGAIN? Some feedback would be helpful.

So, yeah, some TerraCeles....stuff, for ya to enjoy. After all, this IS a yuri fic, might as well have SOMETHING going on with them to start off.

Hope ya enjoyed it, and please comment!