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What we Were
Characters: Celes, Terra
Word count: 500
Warnings: None
Notes: For
"Were we friends?" Terra asked. "Before." Her head was cocked to one side, a childishly inquisitive attitude; Kefka hadn't liked her to talk, toward the end, and so for nearly a month she'd only communicated in broad pantomime. Her memories were gone, but those stagey gestures remained. It made Celes want to spit.
"No," she said shortly. "I don't have friends." She turned away, the better to concentrate on finding a way up the slope. The other Returners had gone on ahead - awfully trusting of them, letting the ex-Imperial general talk with Terra alone. That old samurai glowered back at her periodically from the cave entrance, ten feet above, but evidently no one else was the least bit worried they'd been set up.
Celes had to remind herself that they hadn't been. But it was hard to respect people foolish enough to take that on faith.
Terra still stood there, looking expectant. A gust of wind down the pass sent her cape fluttering, the same sort of gauzy impractical thing she'd been given to wear in Vector. Not that she needed any real protection, but - had she decided to dress herself the same way? Or was she still wearing the clothes she'd been sent north in? Celes found either possibility disturbing, but couldn't have said why. "Did you used to?" said Terra.
"Used to what?"
"Have friends."
("Now our little chatterbox won't distract you anymore," Kefka said, pausing to burnish the Slave Crown with one trailing sleeve. "I told her to be quiet, but she just couldn't manage it! Now she'll have no choice. No more troublesome questions, right, my pet?"
Terra only stood at attention, and did not blink as often as she should.
Celes tried to do the same, like a good soldier. Kefka's sidelong smile told her she was not succeeding.)
Celes started picking her way up the uneven surface, a jumble of stone and packed snow left by a recent rockfall. She had never seen so much natural ice in one place. She had thought, somehow, that it would feel more like home - that the power in her blood would recognize the chill in the air, the fractal sparkle. Instead everything felt distant and unreal. No thanks to Terra.
"Well?" said Terra. She had always been stubborn. Well - she'd been stubborn, while she was able.
She'd fought their masters more than Celes ever had. But see how they were both repaid.
"You thought we were friends," Celes said, finally.
Terra said, "You didn't agree?" She didn't sound hurt. Only perplexed, as if the pieces of this puzzle didn't line up the way she'd expected.
What does it matter if I agreed or not, Celes thought. Both of those girls are as good as dead. And yet she found herself turning - shifting her sword to the other hip for better balance, securing her footholds - and offering Terra a hand up.
Terra's grip was as warm as it had always been, and as strong. Maybe that was worse.