Ten
‹ Esper Whispers ›
- Magicite at cavern at orphanage
- Dinner on beach
- Sally ask about: Reason why Purist faction might want magicite.
- How using magic isn't necessary to receive the psychological and physical bonuses.
- Trabia and Deling Gardens.
- Black Market ring in Winhill.
- Resistance Faction member in custody.
'...Sally...'
I breathed deep and slowly opened my eyes, rubbing them first with the back of my hands. "Hmm...?"
'Sally? Are you awake?'
I stretched and moaned, lowering my hands from my face-- I bolted upright as I looked into the smiling and pretty face of Queen Terra Branford Figaro. When I looked sharply to my right, Zell slept soundly... I swallowed hard and shifted my focus back to the lovely Esper Terra... Only, she was in human form and dressed in a lovely satin gown of the softest pink I had ever seen. 'But... Didn't the picture Harry show... something different?' But what did I know about Espers?
'You don't need to be afraid,' she told me. 'I won't hurt you.'
Somehow I knew that. I only didn't understand how she spoke with me if she'd been dead for nearly 2,000 years. Or more. "O-Okay."
Terra offered me a small smile before moving, or floating rather, to Zell's side of the bed and looking down at him. Her expression grew wistful and saddened. 'He reminds me of Edgar as he slept. I would watch him for hours, sleeping so peaceful without the lines of worry and pressure...' She reached out a hand toward his face and then flinched and pulled back, blinking back tears and looking away.
I bit my lip as I watched her, thinking again how she must have missed her husband when he had died. I didn't want to imagine how I would feel if I lost Zell. Especially not after being near him for so many years. No. I didn't want to imagine it at all.
Terra's bright violet eyes focused again on my face, and she forced a comforting smile before moving to my side, her shimmering form drifting through the bed until she 'stood' on the other. 'You had questions before. I thought I would do my best to answer them.'
I stared at her in shock and disbelief before rubbing my eyes and again focusing on her. "Am... Am I asleep?"
She nodded, smiling.
"Why... How are you able to talk to me?"
'I don't know.'
I rubbed at my forehead, thinking again to how Asura had spoken to me in my dreams, and beginning to wonder if there was something my parents hadn't told me. Finally, I released a deep breath and looked up to meet her violet eyes. "You're... You're Queen Terra of Figaro... right?"
She nodded, smiling though it seemed somewhat sad.
"What were... What were the names of the others we found?"
She lowered her eyes. 'I don't remember their names.'
I watched her mourn and felt as if I mourned with her. It didn't matter to me that I didn't know her. That I couldn't possibly understand what she felt, being forever separated from her husband and children? I felt for her. "Terra..." She looked up. "Can you tell me what happened? Can you tell me your story? So that no one will forget what you did?" I reached to the end-table near my side of the bed and showed her the handheld internet phone. "When I wake up, I'll put it all on here and make sure everyone knows. I promise."
Her smile softened, becoming more genuine as she watched me. 'They whispered that you had a heart for us, but I wasn't sure what they meant. Now... I think I understand.' She nodded her head, her slender form seeming to grow slightly brighter. 'Yes, Sally. Yes, I will.'
She began the story in her soft and gentle voice that rang with intensity and passion and sadness, making the visions ring and burn in my head of Kefka and Gestahl; of the heroic General Leo; of the dark and mysterious Shadow; of the tortured souls Locke and Cyan; of Sabin, Relm and Celes, Gogo, Umaro, Mog and Gau... and Edgar. Telling of battles and losses, of friends lost and found, of lost loves and new ones discovered. Of Esper battles and retreats. Of hidden castles below ground and winter cities sieged by Empire soldiers. They came alive in my mind as she spoke, and oh how real it all seemed. I could practically smell the burning cities and the poison of the water of Cyan's home of Doma. I could almost smell the heat of the desert outside Figaro castle. And I could practically hear the animal roars while hunting with Gau on the Veldt.
Then the adventure had ended and her magical powers had been lost with the defeat of Kefka and the statues. She also said the magicite shards had then shattered, which made a hundred and one questions rise in my brain as to how the shards could now be here if they had broken; how she could be here if magic had faded; and how the magic had returned. But dawn began to shine through the windows of the master cabin, not giving me a chance to ask the questions when she softly and sadly admitted, 'I need to go,' as her image flickered and faded.
Her genuine smile returned as she reached forward and touched me under the chin with her fingers. 'Thank you for mourning us, heart child. And thank you for this promise of memory.'
I blinked back the tears and nodded, briefly looking behind me when Zell murmured and groaned. When I focused again on Terra, her expression had resumed its wistful sadness as she watched him sleep. 'Treasure these moments, for we never know when the light of our heart will fade.' Then she offered me again a teary smile. 'I wish you all the happiness possible.'
"Thank you," I whispered.
Then her form shimmered to nothing... and I opened my eyes to stare at the ceiling, reliving and re-imagining the story so that I wouldn't forget a single moment.
You ever have those dreams that seem more real than anything else? Well, I was positive I had one as I laid there staring at the ceiling with my hands behind my head. Sure, I heard Sally breathing and murmuring in her sleep beside me, and I could feel the rocking of the Moon Spinner against the movement of the waves, but I also had the creepy feeling that I wasn't really awake. I may have thought I was, but... The itch to find out had me by the neck, dragging me out of bed and into my shorts and t-shirt before making my way out on deck--
"...crap," was all I could mutter when I saw a woman I couldn't help but recognize as Queen Terra of Figaro. There was no mistaking it. And when she turned to face me, giving me a smile that reminded me of Sally - you know, one of those timid and yet kinda sad smiles - it gave me goose-bumps. I mean, here was an Esper. A creature as powerful as the Guardian Forces, and probably as old, standing on the deck of my yacht looking out at the water as if she were waiting for me to come on deck.
I cleared my throat and rubbed at my neck before shoving my hands into the pockets of my shorts and stepping forward. I wasn't junctioned, so if this Esper wasn't as timid as her smile said she was, I was shit out of luck. "...crap," I muttered again.
She softly laughed, which for some reason made me feel a little better. 'It's alright, Zellander. I'm not going to attack you or Sally.'
The fact she knew my full name gave me even more of the creeps. "Okay. So you say," I said slowly, kinda hating to be such a jerk about it, but I didn't like being in the dark. And the power of these Espers had my back up.
Queen Terra almost absently nodded as she focused her burning violet eyes out to the ocean. 'You remind me of Celes. She was suspicious of Locke and the others at first. Of course, so was I. I had already been used by the Empire for most of my life, my memory of it completely gone. If it hadn't been for Locke and Edgar...'
I watched her face as I moved to stand beside her, remembering what Tahlson had said about her and 'Edgar' and how she'd never been the same when he died... I leaned back against the side of the yacht, my elbows on the railing as I continued to watch her. "I'll quit being an ass now."
Queen Terra laughed and looked over at me, which was kinda weird. I mean, even though I knew she wasn't alive, I could feel power emanating from her that... well... freaked me out. She could kill me without a problem.
'I don't blame you for being suspicious. You love her very much. You want to protect her.' The wistful and sad expression returned as she lowered her gaze to her hands. 'I wanted to protect them, too. That's why I finally accepted my power. That's why I did what I could to destroy it, even though I knew I might die. I... I wanted them all to live.'
Clearing my throat, I looked ahead. "Yeah. I know what you mean." How many times had I stared death in the face to save my friends and family?
She sighed and lowered her hands, focusing again out on the waves of the water. 'I'm telling Sally about our adventures, but I know she will want to ask me 'why'. I won't have time to tell her.' She looked over at me again. 'It's been too long since magic returned, so I don't remember how or why it happened. I don't even know why I remember what I'm able to tell her. It seems as if I've been asleep for so long. But when magic came back, I remember suddenly feeling whole again, being able to... feel the magic within me as I had for my entire life before.' She shook her head. 'I don't believe all of the Espers came back from where they'd escaped before the statues had been destroyed, destroying magic. But I remember that they were different than the ones I met during the battle. Maybe they were different, but only seemed the same?'
"Different Espers but the same kind? Like brothers and sisters or something?" I offered.
Terra smiled and nodded. 'Yes. Like that. So the Espers you've found might not be the ones I knew before. They might be named something else, but still be Espers.'
I nodded. "Sure, sure. That makes sense." I motioned toward her. "The doc was wondering what you Espers have in common with Guardian Forces and how the whole GF and magic aura thing with the planet got set up. You remember any of that?"
Terra shook her head, sadly. 'I don't. I'm sorry. I only remember feeling... myself. Hearing the whispers of the Espers again.'
"Hey. Don't sweat it. It's been a while." I smirked. "Can't blame you for being a little spotty on the memories. I'm there myself. Just remembered something about Sally that was kinda important just the other day."
Terra gave me a quizzical look. 'Why do you forget?'
"Oh right. You wouldn't know about that."
So I told her about the Guardian Forces, and junctioning, and how we got and used magic but only at the loss of memories. Then she explained how with the magicite shards the magic was learned as an innate ability that was never lost. Some Espers teaching up to 3 or 4 spells while others only taught 1 or 2. It simply took a little while to learn, longer with the more powerful magic like Ultima or Meteor. She also said how some of the shards would strengthen or enhance our own strength or intelligence or speed or things like that, how much depended on how long we had them. It all made me nervous to think that some loose-cannon could get a hold of these and make a lot of trouble.
"So, how many do we have and how many still need to be found?"
Terra shook her head. 'I'm not sure. That's what I wanted to warn you about. Somehow I think your Guardian Forces have known about these shards and now want them to be safely tucked away. Is something happening that would make it more important now than before?'
I nodded. "Yeah. There's a Purist Faction - they don't believe in using magic or GFs - that's trying to gather up power so that they can either wipe Garden off the face of the planet, even though we've kinda made it regular policy to not use GFs, or do their best to make us as little a control-factor as possible. We've got a couple SeeDs under-cover, and a couple civilians too, and practically got the whole thing cleaned up, but... Well, this whole thing with Asura showing up with Sally and Ahndra has us kinda freaked. She said something about a throne that they're looking for that we can't figure out why. Not if they don't believe in using GFs or magic."
'Maybe they don't know what it is? Maybe they think they know but are wrong?'
I nodded again. "Yeah. That's what I'm thinking, but with what you said about the shards boosting strength and crap like that, I'm wondering if they think there's a stash of shards there - where better to find a bunch of Espers than in a throne room? - and they're wanting to get those so they can beef up their army. It's what I would--" I finally noticed her expression looked a little weird. "What's the matter?"
'A throne room?'
"Yeah," I acknowledged slowly, the hairs on the back of my neck rising. "Why?"
'I... I don't know. On our adventures, we found a throne-room beneath the waters. It was Odin's castle.'
"Odin has a tower now." I grimaced. "Well, he did when he was alive. Seifer kinda killed him. Pissed Gilgamesh off, too."
Terra's eyes widened. 'Someone killed Odin?'
"Yeah, but don't ask. I don't think I have time to tell the story." I smirked. "Sally's better at 'em anyway."
Terra smiled. 'Yes. She has a love of the dramatic and the romantic.'
My focus moved to the door leading below. "Yep." Then I released a deep breath and looked again to her. "So what's creeping you out about the throne room? You think it might be Odin's that someone took over? You think Asura might have been the one that ousted Odin, making him have to move in to the tower in the first place?"
Terra shook her head. 'I don't know. I haven't ever heard of an Esper Asura. She might be older than what even the Espers are.'
"I guess I can see that. She told Sally she was 'Queen of Summon'. But I've never heard of it being called that before. We 'summon' the GFs, yeah, but I've never heard it said like the 'Summon' was a thing. I'll see about getting Sally and the doc to do some research." I grinned. "She's been loving the adventure, and I've got to admit it's been a blast. I can hardly wait to tell Squall and Selphie. Marshal'll go green with envy, he likes adventure you see. Don't know what he sees in Ahndra. She's a control-freak. Oh well. No accounting for taste."
Terra laughed. 'You remind me of Terrance.'
"Terrance?"
Terra nodded, her smile wavering to one more wistful. I felt bad for her. 'One of my children,' she said softly, lowering her gaze. 'Our first son.' She sighed deep. 'He had Edgar's eyes and laugh. He had his lovely golden hair, too...' Then she blinked several times and swallowed hard, looking back out to the ocean as she gripped the railing. The breeze almost seemed to react to her, picking up speed and whipping through her hair to make it almost look like she was flying. 'Edgar...' she whispered.
And the way she said it reminded me how I had heard Sally say my name in the Infirmary after being trapped under the bookcase. Scared of being alone. I think I knew a little of what she was going through. After all, I'd felt something of the same thing when Sally had gone on her Field Exam.
Then Terra released another deep breath and looked over at me. 'You must find the rest of them, Zellander. Edgar gave his life so that this world could find peace, and I want that peace to continue. So please. Please find them.'
I gave a slight nod. "Sure."
Then she stepped forward and held me close and tight, pressing her cheek against my chest that I felt grow wet with tears. How tight she embraced me made my lips actually droop as I hesitantly lifted my arms around her. If she was anything like Sally, being away from her kids and her 'Edgar' would have been like having her heart yanked out of her chest. And that made my insides hurt. Mostly because I knew there was nothing I could do about it.
She finally released a deep breath and slowly lifted her head, pinning me with those violet eyes that glimmered with tears the same time they burned with power. 'If I can, I will protect you both,' she whispered, her voice sounding as determined as I'd ever heard Sally's.
I slightly nodded. "Thanks."
Then she forced a smile, lifted a hand that seemed to burn and glow to caress my cheek, and disappeared to leave me sitting up in bed.
I felt a shift beside me as Sally also sat up. "What's the matter?"
Focusing on her curious and yet intense expression, I remembered what Terra had said. "Did you just have a dream with Esper Terra telling you a story?"
She blinked and nodded. "How did you know?"
"She told me. I had a dream with her, too." Sally gasped and shielded her mouth with a hand. I nodded and then turned more toward her, motioning behind her to the internet phone. "Come on. Let's put it down before we forget."
She hurriedly reached for the phone, getting it ready for storing an adventure of a lifetime.
Harry met us several miles off the coast of Moor's Head, expression inquisitive as he boarded with his computer in tow. "Your message sounded fairly urgent. Has something happened?"
"Yeah. You could say that," Zell mumbled, his hand giving mine occasional pressures as he motioned Harry below. You better sit down for this, doc."
Lifting an eyebrow, Harry continued to watch Zell as he passed to the stairs leading below. Zell and I followed, positioning ourselves in the couch as he sat in a chair across from us.
Zell looked over at me. "You wanna tell him? Or me? It doesn't matter."
"Um... I'll do it. You tell me if I forgot anything."
"Sure." Zell focused again on the doctor, smirking when he noticed his curious expression. "Maybe I should get you a Scotch?"
Harry blinked and then reluctantly smiled. "That wouldn't be wise. I don't do well with alcohol."
"Heh. You might say ‘what the hell' after this." Zell nudged me. "Go ahead."
Motioning to the computer, I quietly said, "You remember those pictures you have of the Esper Terra? And all those details you told us of her life with Edgar and such?"
Harry slowly nodded, his eyebrow rising as he moved his gaze from me to Zell and back again.
I looked to Zell. "Go ahead and give it to him," I whispered.
"Sure?"
I nodded.
"Okay." Zell offered forward the small mini-disc. "Here ya go, doc. Pop that in your computer."
Harry almost cautiously retrieved the disc.
Once he had set to work turning on his computer, while still watching Zell and me with a curious expression, I continued. "What you have there is the story of the madman, his name was Kefka, directly from Esper Terra."
Harry fumbled his hold on the computer, and it nearly toppled from his lap. "Pardon?"
Clearing my throat and sending Zell a sidelong glance the same moment he gave me a reassuring wink, I focused once more on Harry and said, "Terra came to our dreams last night and told us the story of Kefka and the disappearance of magic. She also told Zell that the magicite shards we're finding might be from the time after magic returned, so they might not be the Espers that helped her against Kefka. She also mentioned a throne-room in an underground castle." I motioned to the disc and his computer. "It's all on there, as much as we could get down."
The expression on Harry's face made me smile as he stared at his computer. As before, it was like a kid at Christmas and birthday combined.
"How..." Harry finally focused up at us. "How is this possible?" he whispered. "She's been gone for more than 2 millennia. How could she have spoken with you; sentient?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. Asura, a lady calling herself 'Queen of Summon', has spoken with me, too. Which is there as a secondary file. They both called me 'heart child', but I don't know what they meant."
Harry looked to Zell. "And you say she spoke with you as well?" he pressed, voice still awed.
Zell nodded.
"Zell, tell him what you told me."
He looked to me. "You think?"
I nodded. "It might be important."
"Well..." Zell rubbed at his neck as he absently stared at the back of Harry's laptop screen. "It was freaky. I could feel all this power... But it was different than I thought it would be. Like when I hold those magicite things. It's like... like having a part of me I didn't have before. Being with her was like that. Kinda..." Zell looked to me. "What did I say before?"
"Full circle?"
Zell nodded and focused again on Harry. "Yeah. It felt full-circle."
Harry regarded Zell for a moment before lowering his gaze to the computer and rapidly working at the keys and touch pad. Then he twirled the computer, offered it to Zell to hold, and hurriedly retrieved something from the slim briefcase.
Zell and I exchanged glances. Then Harry reached out and took hold of one of Zell's hands, turning it to poke a finger with a device that looked to be a DNA sampler. "Ouch! Hey, doc! Leave off," Zell complained.
Harry mumbled apologies and then transferred the small vial holding the sample to another piece of technology that I had never seen, immediately inserting that into his computer as he retrieved it from Zell.
Zell, now sucking the offended finger, sent me a 'what gives?' look, to which I shrugged, smiled, and retrieved his finger to kiss it. He grinned and I softly giggled.
Harry sounded an strangled exclamation that directed our focus, our eyes wide as Harry stared, amazed beyond words, at the screen. "...oh my god..." Finally, he lifted that shocked expression to us and said "You're a descendent of the Figaro bloodline."