Chapter Text
Terra sat astride her chocobo in the field. Waving grasses surrounded her, mounted by a reddish sky. Smoke rose from the forest in front of her, and, when she turned, she saw the stone castle on the hill. “Home, finally,” the words came unbidden from her mouth, and she spurred her beast onwards.
The castle was hauntingly familiar, but something in the weathered granite told Terra she’d never seen it before. She galloped into the courtyard and slid out of the saddle to the dusty flagstones. “Darling, I’m back!” she cried, running into the building.
A man caught her, his circlet flashing gold around his tan forehead. “Love, please hide. The Horde is coming, and you must get to safety.”
“Come with me, then, darling! Or let me come with you!”
“I must protect our home; that is my most important duty. If I must confront the Horde on my own and battle their sorcerer it is because the cowards fear to face us themselves.” He cupped her cheek with one callused hand. “Do not fear, my love. This battle will take but a moment, and we shall rejoice with our victory.”
Something deep within Terra screamed that this battle would only end in sorrow, but she nodded. “Darling, please be careful. I shall wait in the secret chamber for you, as long as need be.”
In an eye blink, the queen found herself hiding in the basement chamber, a guttering candle on the table the only light. A few women and young children huddled nearby. Somehow Terra knew most of the boys and men were upstairs battling the fiends of the Horde. A pang clenched in her chest as she watched a little girl cling to her mother. I wish I could give my darling a son. They’d tried, but ten years later nothing had come from their relationship. I guess humans and Espers are just too incompatible.
A piece of Terra knew that was wrong, and that piece screamed that she herself was a half-Esper. Those inner protests failed to stir her heart. She sighed.
There was a sudden crash, and humans in monstrous helms flooded the chamber. Screams echoed around her, and the copper scent of blood filled the air. Above the clamor the queen heard someone shout, “The Horde!”
Their backs to the wall, her people had no chance. They bunched around her, taking blow after blow for her honor, crying for her to try to escape. They love me. The thought flitted through Terra’s mind, followed by, They know they’re doomed.
Bloodied corpses piled up around her, leaving spots on the wall, on the furniture, on her dress. These attackers had no desire for rape or plunder, only destruction. One by one she watched them slay her friends and subjects, their names she knew but she didn’t know how. She reached out for a stray child, Railin, she thought, but a Horde in a horned mask snatched the boy away and slit his throat. “What if that was your child?” she screamed, her stomach churning.
“You’d do the same to him, witch,” the soldier rasped.
“Do mind your manners, knight,” a slinky voice came from the stairwell. The crowd of Horde melted towards the walls, leaving the bodies of the slain where they lay. Terra realized she was the last one standing. “It is unkind to call this fair lady a witch. After all, she is the queen of a lost people, and deserves fair treatment as such.”
She glared. “I don’t need your help. I want my people back!”
The sorcerer smiled wickedly. “You could join them, your Highness, if you wished.”
Terra spat in his face.
A trickle curved down the hook of his nose, but his smile remained. Before she could react, he cupped her chin in his hand and squeezed. “Perhaps I was being too generous, your Highness. I was going to let you see your people and your husband, but you spurn my kindness.” He threw her to the ground.
“Darling?” she asked softly. “What have you done to my darling?” Wincing, she pushed herself up, death, death echoing wildly in her head. Her stomach knotted and twisted.
The sorcerer’s smile grew colder, and he began to chant in a steady, solemn voice. Two of the Horde grabbed the queen roughly and held her. “What have you done to my husband?” she screamed.
The laughter of the Horde around her and the words in her head dulled everything, filling her ears with aural cotton. She saw the flash of power leaving the sorcerer’s hand as he mouthed the final words. As if from outside herself, Terra saw her body turn to stone. The sorcerer leaned close to the statue’s ear and whispered, “You spat on my mercy; I spit on your pain. You shall feel only grief and pain in this world, and never can you escape from this cage in which I’ve imprisoned you. You’ll never be with Odin now, nor any of his brethren or bastards.” The sorcerer kissed the statue’s lips, then left.
A tear trickled down one marble cheek.
Behind her, someone said, “My pain shall be your pain, sister queen.”
Terra turned and saw the glowing form of the ancient queen behind her. “What?”
“You shall lose one you treasure and turn to stone, able only to weep for the one you lost. Never shall you join that one in death. Just as the murderer of my people and my love pronounced my fate, so I, too, pronounce yours, Queen of Figaro.”
“Wait!” she called as the world faded around her. “Who will it be?”
“Your fate is mine.” The words reached her ears as if diffused through fog, and she opened her eyes to her own bedchamber.