Tools of the Empire

Chapter 5

Terra brought out her sword and slashed at the mad villagers, who were knocked back by the sheer force of the move. They got up, scowling angrily, unsheathing sickles, and they rushed at her, and she parried their attacks. Meanwhile, Terra ran over to the mad woman and her child.

"Mommy, let go, you're hurting me!"

"We must take you to be blessed by Kefka's divinity!" The woman called devoutly. Terra ran over to her used her magic to make a little ember appear on the woman's clothes, not putting her in danger, but taking her by surprise. In her distress, the woman had let the child go, who ran, crying, into Terra's arms.

"It is alright, child, you are safe."

The girl sobbed into her chest, scared beyond all reason.

Celes stared down at the villagers, madness gleaming in their eyes. They rushed her again, and she parried every strike, disarming them and knocking them out with her legs and elbows. One madman managed to get through her defence, slashing her side. She glared at him, and attacked as he did. He dodged expertly, and she got cut thrice more. She staggered, having lost a lot of blood.

"FIRE!"

Terra intervened, hitting the attacker with a fireball, knocking him into a wall, knocking him out. Terra turned and ran towards Celes, who cradled her wounds with her hands.

"Celes!" Terra cried worriedly, embracing her.

"I'm fine." Celes lied. "I can still fight."

"You're cut to ribbons!" Terra interjected, exaggerating. "You've done more than enough. Please, just rest and let me handle it."

"No. I'll fight; I won't stop fighting, if it means protecting you."

"You're gonna get yourself killed! Please, let me help, I can fight too, you know."

The blonde shook her head. "I won't let you be harmed, Terra. You're all I have left right now, the only friend I have right now. I cannot allow you to get hurt."

"Well, neither can I!" Terra shouted back, hovering her hands over the blonde's wounds, pouring magic into them, healing them with Cure. "Please, don't shoulder all of the burden. Let me share some of it too." She was crying as she said this.

Celes sighed, embracing her friend. "Sorry. I was being stubborn and foolish. Alright then, we can protect each other."

The little girl ran over to them, sticking close to Terra, holding onto the edge of her clothing.

"RAAAAH!"

They looked towards the sky, were a large dragon-like creature descended. It looked very much like the Esper Bahamut, except more...twisted, distorted, warped.

Terra looked up at it, her eyes wide, and she collapsed, holding her head, her mouth open in a soundless scream.

"Terra!" Celes exclaimed, going over to her arm outstretched, concern on her features.

Terra's form...flickered, shifting between human and Esper at the blink of an eye, the young woman in obvious distress. "It....It's not an Esper...Just some....twisted imitation...." She screamed as pain warcked her body. "My body's...reacting to its presence...recognises it partially as an Esper...but...it's...to twisted, too unstable....AAH!....My body...can't handle it..."

Celes looked down at her, and got up, sword raised high. "I'll ensure that you won't remain to hurt Terra any further, monster!"

The Mad Bahamut screeched, and shot of a beam of black flame, killing the mad villagers, including the little girl's mother.

"MOMMY!"

Celes frowned, and focused her magic, firing a column of ice up through it. It screeched in pain, and glared at her, flapping its wings and shattering the ice. Two translucent spheres appeared in its claws, black electricity forming inside.

Celes was not familiar with this type of magic, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she kept the child and Terra safe, by any means. She held up her sword, and markings along the blade's side glowed. The creature threw the orbs at them, and were absorbed into her blade. She cringed, staggering from the feedback sent to her by the Runic Blade. Normally, it would painlessly replenish her spiritual power. Perhaps the feedback of pain had something to do with the creature's nature, or perhaps the attack has a natural defence to her Runic Blade. Either way, she could not allow herself to fall, not when there were people counting on her.

Terra screamed, transforming into her Esper form. She ascended, staring down at the twisted mockery of an Esper before her. It roared, and she snarled, baring her teeth. Hey flew at each other, attacking. The Mad Bahamut clawed at her, but she dodged, and flung a glowing pinkish-white ball of magic into its face. It roared in rage and pain, and flung its four tails all over, crushing several buildings, and then a strange black circular symbol appeared in front of its mouth, and it shot a beam of energy. Terra caught the attack in her hands, holding it back, gritting her teeth from effort.

The Mad Bahamut rose its arms, and created two spheres of black energy, as it had against Celes, and flung them at Terra. Celes jumped in and held up her Runic Blade, absorbing the attack and suffering stared down at the blonde concernedly, and stared as she collapsed from the pain. Terra growled angrily and glared at the Mad Esper, and yelled, calling forth all her power, shooting a Mana Beam through the creature's and into its open mouth and through its body.

It hovered there for a moment, before disintegrating and disappearing, as if it never existed.

Terra flew down to Celes, reverting to her human form.

"Celes..." She murmured in concern, holding her up. She looked dwon at the little girl, who looked up at her a little fearfully. She smiled warmly.

"What is your name, child?"

"Uh....Kina."

"Very well, Kina. Let's get out of this place while we still can. It's not exactly safe, and we should stick together, if only to protect you."

The girl looked unsure, and backed away an inch. "But...you're a monster..."

Terra stared at her in shock, and then looked away shamefully. "I...I am sorry...I am not a normal human, it's true, and I have done some terrible things...but...I cannot allow you to die, not after we tried so hard to keep you safe." She held out her hand, tears in her eyes. "Please, Kina, come with us, and we can keep you safe until the next town."

"But Mommy..."

"She tried to have your killed, or worse. And, I regret to say, she's dead now, killed by that monster. There is nothing we can do now for her. All you can do is continue living. Please." That last part was pleading, practically begging her to come along

The girl still looked unsure, but she hesitantly took the young woman's hand, who smiled kindly.

"I am Terra, and the other woman is Celes. For the time being, we'll be your family."

They left, off to search for a safer locale, and possibly friends.

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She had been hired to track them down. She sniffed the air, trying to get a handle on their smell.

"They're over there." She said simple, pointing east.

"Good job." One of her companions replied. "Then, let's get going then, and finish what we set out to do."

They rode off on their black feathered Chocobos, on the hunt.

I apologise if the Mad Esper battle wasn't as...epic as it probably should've been.

And now Terra and Celes have a new, more hesitant, member on their team: Kina, the cute little girl!

But who are these mysterious people? And how are they connected to our heroes, if they are at all?

The Mad Esper is actually a subtle reference to FFX. In that game, there was a side quest where you could fight the (incredibly hard) Dark Aeons as bonus bosses, who, as stated, are super hard (can anyone actually beat these things?). The Mad Esper is my answer to these, in the setting of FFVI. Hope you like.

Hope you enjoyed this, and please comment!