Terra and Locke- Metamorphosis
Title: Metamorphosis
Theme + Number: 7. Sing
Claim: Terra and Locke (challenge)
Characters/Pairings included: Locke, Terra, Banon, Celes
Rating: K+
Warnings: switches point of view in there
Summary: It's one of those moments when you get stuck in time, where everything is moving fast and slow at the same time.
They didn’t have enough time to rest. Reports of scattered troops throughout Narshe raised the questions of a possible regrouping, of more attacks. And so Banon was merciless and insisted they abandon their bandages and potions and let their blood freeze to their skin as they struggled up the path to the esper.
It was a narrow passage through the cliffs and they walked in single file, silent.
No one noticed that Terra dragged behind in the back. Banon simply moved as briskly as he dared through the ice and snow with everyone following. He didn’t glance back, marching straight across the swaying bridge to the ledge where the being of scales and membrane was encased in ice. They filed in behind him.
All except Terra, who clung to the bridge’s railing as her boots slipped on the ice. She could hear someone calling.
They stood and stared, at the majestic being caught in a prison of crystal. Celes broke the silence. “It’s pulsating.”
Locke turned to regard her. “Pulsating?”
She lifted her wrist and traced the oddly shaped scars, the marks of her infusion. “I can feel my magic reacting to it. It’s powerful… But why?”
Banon finally noticed that the reason they were there, their ray of light, was not with the group. “Where is she?” he demanded.
“I’m here.”
The voice was soft and childlike, and Locke felt his breath catch as Terra reached the ledge.
She was deathly pale. Her lips were pale, her hands, her face, everything but her eyes.
Her eyes were glowing.
She had eyes for nothing but the esper.
And it was glowing in a cadence with her eyes.
Uncertain, he took a few steps and stood between Terra and the esper, hoping that if he blocked her view, she would come out of this strange trance. He could hear Banon protesting, afraid he would break the connection.
She didn’t see him. Her eyes were flickering, flashing with white light. And then he heard the whispers. Words he couldn’t understand.
He was half turned around when the flash of white-hot fire flung him aside; he realized with growing dread that the words were coming from the esper.
They all stood frozen in horror as Terra took slow, deliberate steps to the esper. The flashes were coming faster, and Locke could feel their warmth where he lay, breathing harshly in the snow.
The ice encasing the esper was cold. Unnaturally so. When she touched her hands to the ice, she could feel that it was unnatural. It was so cold it burned, a spell of some kind, a cruel and agonizing death its intention. She could feel the flashes of pain through the ice.
This creature had seen much death in its time.
Fascinated, she ran her fingers over its many facets; she could feel the sharp frost following her fingers. The warmth was running through her fingers, around her body.
She whispered softly, “You know me.”
A warm flash was her only answer. Words were being whispered, a crooning, soft sound. Their inflection was familiar, like something she had heard before but could no longer remember.
“You know me.”
The warmth was more insistent. More flashes were coming through her fingers. Images were joining the words, burned directly into her brain, but they were too fast for her to really see.
“Tell me!” she cried. “Tell me who I am!”
The warmth in her fingers was becoming more hot and insistent with every movement. It was burning in an arc through her body. It was painful, but she would not release her hold on the esper. “Who am I?” she screamed, her voice harsh and painful in her throat.
And then the pain was ripping her apart from the inside out. Her skin was melting and reforming, her hair was bursting from its clasps and flickering with static. She was burning. The fire that she loved, that warmed her and frightened her and fascinated her was running through her body.
She was terrified.
Locke managed to drag himself to his knees as he watched her blur and shift into something strange and glowing. The esper was pulsing and crying out in an unfamiliar lilting language. The pulses grew more insistent, until the light burst in a blinding blast. He squinted, and almost cried out in disbelief at the sight of Terra. She was shimmering with a pearly light; she was an iridescent being of purple and pink.
She was strangely beautiful.
And then her scream burst forth, a heart wrenching, tearing scream that he could feel himself echo, and then she burst into the sky leaving a trail of sparkles in her wake.
The esper started to sing.
He sat there, they all sat there completely dumbfounded as the esper’s strange language reached their ears. It wasn’t until it softened to a hum that Locke could even face the reality.
Terra was gone.
Theme + Number: 7. Sing
Claim: Terra and Locke (challenge)
Characters/Pairings included: Locke, Terra, Banon, Celes
Rating: K+
Warnings: switches point of view in there
Summary: It's one of those moments when you get stuck in time, where everything is moving fast and slow at the same time.
They didn’t have enough time to rest. Reports of scattered troops throughout Narshe raised the questions of a possible regrouping, of more attacks. And so Banon was merciless and insisted they abandon their bandages and potions and let their blood freeze to their skin as they struggled up the path to the esper.
It was a narrow passage through the cliffs and they walked in single file, silent.
No one noticed that Terra dragged behind in the back. Banon simply moved as briskly as he dared through the ice and snow with everyone following. He didn’t glance back, marching straight across the swaying bridge to the ledge where the being of scales and membrane was encased in ice. They filed in behind him.
All except Terra, who clung to the bridge’s railing as her boots slipped on the ice. She could hear someone calling.
They stood and stared, at the majestic being caught in a prison of crystal. Celes broke the silence. “It’s pulsating.”
Locke turned to regard her. “Pulsating?”
She lifted her wrist and traced the oddly shaped scars, the marks of her infusion. “I can feel my magic reacting to it. It’s powerful… But why?”
Banon finally noticed that the reason they were there, their ray of light, was not with the group. “Where is she?” he demanded.
“I’m here.”
The voice was soft and childlike, and Locke felt his breath catch as Terra reached the ledge.
She was deathly pale. Her lips were pale, her hands, her face, everything but her eyes.
Her eyes were glowing.
She had eyes for nothing but the esper.
And it was glowing in a cadence with her eyes.
Uncertain, he took a few steps and stood between Terra and the esper, hoping that if he blocked her view, she would come out of this strange trance. He could hear Banon protesting, afraid he would break the connection.
She didn’t see him. Her eyes were flickering, flashing with white light. And then he heard the whispers. Words he couldn’t understand.
He was half turned around when the flash of white-hot fire flung him aside; he realized with growing dread that the words were coming from the esper.
They all stood frozen in horror as Terra took slow, deliberate steps to the esper. The flashes were coming faster, and Locke could feel their warmth where he lay, breathing harshly in the snow.
The ice encasing the esper was cold. Unnaturally so. When she touched her hands to the ice, she could feel that it was unnatural. It was so cold it burned, a spell of some kind, a cruel and agonizing death its intention. She could feel the flashes of pain through the ice.
This creature had seen much death in its time.
Fascinated, she ran her fingers over its many facets; she could feel the sharp frost following her fingers. The warmth was running through her fingers, around her body.
She whispered softly, “You know me.”
A warm flash was her only answer. Words were being whispered, a crooning, soft sound. Their inflection was familiar, like something she had heard before but could no longer remember.
“You know me.”
The warmth was more insistent. More flashes were coming through her fingers. Images were joining the words, burned directly into her brain, but they were too fast for her to really see.
“Tell me!” she cried. “Tell me who I am!”
The warmth in her fingers was becoming more hot and insistent with every movement. It was burning in an arc through her body. It was painful, but she would not release her hold on the esper. “Who am I?” she screamed, her voice harsh and painful in her throat.
And then the pain was ripping her apart from the inside out. Her skin was melting and reforming, her hair was bursting from its clasps and flickering with static. She was burning. The fire that she loved, that warmed her and frightened her and fascinated her was running through her body.
She was terrified.
Locke managed to drag himself to his knees as he watched her blur and shift into something strange and glowing. The esper was pulsing and crying out in an unfamiliar lilting language. The pulses grew more insistent, until the light burst in a blinding blast. He squinted, and almost cried out in disbelief at the sight of Terra. She was shimmering with a pearly light; she was an iridescent being of purple and pink.
She was strangely beautiful.
And then her scream burst forth, a heart wrenching, tearing scream that he could feel himself echo, and then she burst into the sky leaving a trail of sparkles in her wake.
The esper started to sing.
He sat there, they all sat there completely dumbfounded as the esper’s strange language reached their ears. It wasn’t until it softened to a hum that Locke could even face the reality.
Terra was gone.