Terra's Adventure

Chapter V

A Little Girls Story

The towns gate closed automatically behind Terra.

"So...now where do I go..?" Terra said to herself, "I should probably go to the Merchant Shop in Zhilara [Zi-Lara] Town."

Terra ran down the little hill that her town was settled on, and headed southeast toward the town of Zhilara. Terra walked for a couple of hours and was now close to the town, but she now had to go through a forest to finally get to Zhilara Town

The entrance of the forest was dark. There were two rows of Grim Reaper statues on each side of the entrance..almost..as if they were guarding it. Their statue eyes were colored red.

Terra let out an exhausted sigh, "Great, now I have to cross this creepy lookin' forest. Just great..."

Terra gave one last glance at the Reaper Statues, and she could have sworn that she saw its eyes flash. But she dismissed it, and entered the forest.

The inside of the forest was dark-dark-green. There were very few flowers anywhere and dead branches coveted the forest ground. Mysterious noises could be heard. There were spider webs bigger then Terra that were wrapped around trees. The area was filled with fog and the temperature of the forest was very..very cold.

Terra wondered through the forest for a while until she saw what looked like a house in the distance.

*What's a house doing in a forest?* Terra thought to herself.

She slowly walked toward the house, and as she got closer, the house grew bigger. soon the "house" was now a Mansion.

"Wow! W-what's a Mansion doing here?" Terra walked toward the porch and examined the cracks in it and the pillars that connected to it and to the roof. "It must've been here for years. There're so many cracks everywhere." Terra moved toward the door, and slowly turned the rusted nob.. *click*, then she gave it a gentle push and the door slowly opened. The door revealed a room that must have been a Living-room. There was an old broken TV and there were torn couches and chairs. A few photos were hung but were to faded or dirty and dusty to even see. The color of the room was faded-purple. Terra dragged her fingers along a couch as she was walking.

"This place looks so old." Terra looked at her hand and saw that it was covered in dust and rubbed it off. Terra walked to a wall in the hallway which was covered with photos. She couldn't exactly see them well but they seemed to be of a hansom young man and a woman who was probably his wife who was holding a baby in her arms.

"I wonder who these people are?" Terra asked herself.

"That's me and my parents." said a girl-ish voice.

Terra was startled and turned around while drawing her dagger from its sheath. "Who are y- wait. Did you say that was you and your parents?"

"Yeah, and I don't like the fact that your in my home." The girl looked about 14 and her hair was black and short. She was wearing a mini-leather jacket. The sleeves went to her wrists where you could see that she was wearing fingerless gloves. She wore mini-shorts that were black. Her mini-sleeveless shirt that was under her dark leather jacket was white with a purple smiley face in the middle that read "Go Ahead. I Dare Ya'!". She also was wearing a small Shuriken (ninja star) necklace.

"I-I'm sorry I was just curious. I didn't mean to barge in."

"Yeah whatever, just leave."

"O-ok..." Terra walked pasted the girl and headed toward the door.

"Wait!" The girl said, "You didn't take anything did you?"

"No, nothing at all." Terra gave a small smile to the girl as if to say another sorry.

"What's your name?" the girl asked.

"My name's Terra. Terra Branford. What's yours?"

"I'm Yuffie Kisaragi. What exactly were you doing in my house?"

"I was looking for the way to Zhilara Town and had to go through this forest..but i got kinda lost..sorry.."

Yuffie smiled. "Well I can help you?"

"Really?"

"Yeah" Yuffie smiled again.

"Thanks."

Yuffie walked out of the Mansion and Terra followed. The two came across a path and followed it. While the two walked, they shyly talked to each other.

"Why is your house in the middle of a forest?" Terra asked.

"It wasn't in the beginning. It was built on open grass, on an open plain full of beautiful flowers...but then three years later someone cursed us...and trees started to grow everywhere...trapping us inside.. Anyone who entered the Phantom Forest would never find the right path out and would eventually die. But I've lived in this forest all my life and I know every path, and every trick that this forest has."

"You say it as if the forest was alive."

"Because it is..." Yuffie looked up at a tree near by and saw a creature run inside, to hide.

"Wow..but..what happened to your parents?" Terra regretfully asked.

"They...they were petrified, turned to stone. And the only way to cure them is if I obtain 200 Materia. But all I have is 183... I spent my whole life looking for these...ever since I was seven-years-old. And now all I need is 18 more...but I don't think I'll ever get them."

"Hey! Don't say that! I'm sure you will. You just have to keep trying."

"Yeah..but I've searched this entire forest like a million times and I can't find anymore Materia...maybe..this is all there is..."

"Yuffie, I'm sure there's more. You just have to search more wider. Tell you what.. I'm looking for a friend of mine.. and since I'm probably going to be traveling around, why don't you join me? You can help me find her, and We can both look for Materia while we do? So, will you join?"

"R-really?"

"Yeah." Terra put her hand on Yuffie's shoulder as they continued to walk.

"Then yes. I'll join." The two past a bundle of bushes and entered a clearing. The sunlight warmed Terra's body as she jumped with joy when she saw Zhilara Town just a 40 feet away...

End of Chapter V