Final Fantasy VI: Dawn of Power

Chapter 6: Uncovering

Locke and the others appeared in the town square of Mobliz. Locke got up and brushed off his shirt. "Well, now, this place looks better since I last visited it."

Relm pointed to the east. "Well that sure as hell doesn't."

Everyone looked where she was pointing and saw the Mobliz orphanage with half of a wall blown off of it.

"Oh no." Said Celes.

Relm looked at her. "Three guesses what caused that."

They started running towards the building. "God, I hope Terra's okay!"

Strago looked at him. "What did you expect to find? She's an esper! Her magic is far greater than any of ours."

They reached the orphanage to find that the entire kitchen had blown up.

"Holy crap!"

"Relm! Stop swearing!"

"I didn't you old fart-knocker!"

Celes glared at them. "Stop arguing you two! Terra might be hurt!"

"Oh, Terra's fine."

Everyone turned to see Katarin with her child.

"Katarin!" said Locke.

"Terra's fine. She's pink and she's furry, but she's fine."

"Oh that's a relief." Said Strago.

"What happened?" asked Celes.

"Terra was in the kitchen cooking when she literally blew it up. Everyone rushed to help and found her transformed into an esper again."

"Can we see her?" asked Relm.

Katarin shook her head. "Sorry, she's not here. She left with that albino guy with the airship yesterday."

"Dammit!" cursed Locke. "We need to talk to her. She could be anywhere if she's with Setzer, though."

Celes looked at him. "Hang on. I think I may know a way." She entered the orphanage through the hole in the wall. Katarin followed her in.

Locke looked at Strago. "She always knows a way."

"Does Terra have a phone?" Celes asked Katarin.

"No, she left it with me."

Celes sighed. "Alright then…" Celes looked at Katarin. "You wouldn't happen to have a picture of Terra, would you?"

"Of course!" she said. "Wait a minute, I'll get one."

Locke came up behind her. What are you going to do?"

"If I can get a picture of Terra, I can use it mixed with a Seeker spell to track Terra down. Then I can use a Telepathy spell to talk to her long distance."

Katarin returned with a photograph of the green-haired Terra and the children of the orphanage. She handed it to Celes. "This is our best photo of her." She said.

"Alright, this should work." Replied Celes.

Celes sat down at a table and placed the picture in front of her. She put her right index finger on the photo, right where Terra's heart was and closed her eyes. "SEEK!"

Her finger and the photo began to glow a pale green, and after a few seconds, the glow stopped.

"Did it work? Asked Locke.

Celes opened her eyes. "No it didn't. I still have no idea where she is."

"But that doesn't make sense!" Cried Strago. "A seeker spell will always flawlessly find the person portrayed in the image! You must not be doing it right!"

"I know how to do a Seeker spell, Strago!" She retorted. "I used them all the time when I was in the army!"

A heated argument quickly broke out between them.

Locke bent over to Relm. "And I thought the arguments YOU have with him couldn't be topped! This is insane!"

Relm shook her head. She walked between Celes and Strago and pushed them apart. "Quit fighting or I'll paint pictures of both of you! Jeez!"

Celes and Strago became silent, but it was obvious they hadn't forgiven each other.

"Now look," Said Relm, "The problem is pretty obvious. Terra's still in Esper form, and you need a picture of Esper Terra for the Seeker to work."

Strago slapped his forehead. Celes sighed and looked at Katarin.

"I don't suppose you have a picture of Esper Terra, do you?"

Katarin frowned. "I really doubt it. This is the first time she's changed since the Kefka War… I might be able to find something in an old newspaper or something."

"Don't bother." Said Relm. "Give me some canvas and I'll have an image for you in about half an hour."

After around half an hour, just as Relm said, the team had a perfect painting of Terra in her esper form. Celes put her finger on Esper Terra's heart.

"Let's hope this works." Said Celes. "SEEK!"

Again her finger glowed green, but this time it was a vibrant lime. A white light shot out of the eyes of Terra's image and flew out the window.

* * *

Setzer and Gogo walked into Dojang Figaro with Terra, concealed by a brown cloak, close behind. As they entered the building, they were able to catch a glimpse of the end of a Martial Arts class being taught by none other than Sabin Figaro. Sabin was perfectly demonstrating to the children in the class the Rising Phoenix Blitz technique. The three waited for him to notice them when they were startled from behind.

"Setzer! Gogo! How nice to see you again!"

They turned to see Gau standing fully upright in front of them.

"Gau! How have you been?" said Setzer as he gave him a quick man-hug.

"Quite well, thank you! Master Sabin has made me lead instructor in his Dojang! I've even learned most of his techniques by now."

Gogo looked at him inquisitively. "You spoke."

Gau laughed. "Yes, Gogo. Sabin has also been teaching me how to speak properly and walk properly. You could say I'm 'Civilized' now."

Setzer patted him on the back. "That's great, man!"

Gau looked at Terra, not recognizing her in the cloak. "Who's this you have with you?"

Everyone's mood suddenly turned solemn. Terra reached up and lowered her hood a bit, revealing her face.

"Holy- Mmmph!" Gau was cut off when Setzer put his hand over his mouth.

"Yes that's Terra!" Said Setzer. "We're afraid her whole er… Espery-ness may be a part of something big, so we're trying to reunite the team."

Gau nodded. "I see. Well you can talk with Master Sabin after this class is over, but you might want to wait in his office. You don't want to chance having someone see you as an esper, Terra."

Terra nodded. "Thank you, Gau."

Gau pointed to his left. "The office is over there. The class should be over in about ten minutes."

The three of them waited in the office for the next few minutes when the door suddenly flew open. Sabin was in the door and had a huge grin on his face. "Well if it isn't Bleachy and the Mimic!" He yelled happily. He grabbed Setzer in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "How've ya been, buddy?"

"Fine…" he gasped, "but I'm gonna choke if you don't let me go!"

Sabin released him. "Oops! Sorry!"

Terra waved and said timidly, "Hi, Sabin." Blushing under the cloak.

Sabin looked at her and started blushing himself. "Hey, Terra."

They stood in silence just looking at each other for a few seconds before Gau came in and said, "I told him you were worried something big was happening."

Sabin snapped back to reality. "Right! So what's up?"

At that, Terra removed her hood. Sabin looked at her, startled. "Holy Crap!" He exclaimed.

Gau looked at him. "That's exactly what I said."

Terra explained the situation. "As you can see, I'm an esper again. If this has happened, then that only means one thing."

Gogo looked at Sabin. "Magic."

Terra nodded. "Right. Sabin the magic has returned."

Sabin laughed happily. "Terra, that's great!" He hugged her tightly. "Why are you guys so worried about that?"

Setzer looked at him and said one word. "Kefka."

Sabin stopped and let go of Terra. He looked at her somewhat shocked.

Terra sighed. "If the magic has returned to this world then it's quite possible that Kefka has returned with- GAH!" A sudden surge of pain went through her body.

Sabin ran to her and caught her as she fell. Setzer looked at Gau. "That can't be good!"

Everything went black for Terra. She was sure that Kefka was behind whatever was causing her sudden situation when she heard a voice.

"Terra? Terra are you there?"

Terra was startled. "Celes? Is that you?"

"Oh good! I was worried I wouldn't be able to reach you again!"

"Celes, what's going on?"

"I'm communicating with you telepathically from the Mobliz orphanage."

"Why are you at the orphanage?"

"We were looking for you. Listen. Something terrible is happening. As you know, the magic has returned. But Kefka has returned with it!"

"I knew it!"

"We really need your help, Terra. Espers are attracted to magic like moths to a lamp. Since Kefka is the source of Magic in this world, you should be able to sense where he is."

"How am I supposed to do that? I still don't know much about being an Esper!"

"Just calm down, Terra, and let your Esper half take over for a second and you should sense his presence somewhere in the world."

"Alright."

Terra took a deep breath and let the Esper in her take over for a minute and she knew.

Terra woke up in Sabin's arms.

"Jidoor." Said Terra.

"What?" said Gau.

"We need to get to Jidoor as fast as we can. Let's get to the Airship and I'll explain on the way!"

* * *

Celes looked at the others. "We need to get to Jidoor as fast as we can"

"Is that where Kefka is?" Asked Locke.

Celes nodded. "Yes. Let's get ready to teleport." They all held hands.

"Be careful!" said Katarin.

Celes focused. "TELEPORT!"

And again, they all vanished.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Ahhh… Nothing like a nice trip out of the country. Yes, that's why it's been so long. Sorry I never let any of you know.

So this is chapter 6, eh? Yes I have revealed who Terra's in love with. I chose Sabin for actual reasons of psychology, really. I thought that after everything she had been through, what with her being controlled to do terrible things, she would become pretty much obsessed with innocence. Possibly a reason she became the caregiver of an orphanage. Anyway, what with his naivety and all, I always pictured Sabin as the most "innocent" of the Returners. Sorry Terra/Edgar fans. I just don't see Edgar as the type she'd fall for.

Anyways, enjoy everybody!