Questions and Answers Chapter 3
By ElectroJako45
Her tan robe was torn; her green hair tangled and matted down with sweat. In short, Terra looked like crap, and everyone let her know it in their own way.
From Gau: "Wow, you look messy!"
Said Cyan: "Milady, thou dost look quite unkempt!"
Setzer's deep insight: "Gee, uh, what happened?"
Mog, in his cute little voice, inquired, "Didja run into trouble, kupo?"
Celes, with a slight hint of disdain in her voice, answered Mog for Terra. "Of course she did, or else she's schizo and we just don't know about it."
Locke, just standing there, didn't say anything.
Edgar was the only on in the small room that took action to help Terra. "Well, I guess you had more than a 'refreshment-related accident'. I believe we have a dress and accessories in your size in the guest chambers. You know where those are, right?"
"Yes, Edgar, I know. Thank you." Terra left the room out the door she came, the only one.
After she left, the room was quiet for a few seconds. No one said anything.
"Well," Edgar observed, "I'd say you guys did a top-notch job of shunning Terra."
Getting defensive, Celes replied, "Honestly, Edgar, you can't tell me she didn't look almost like the living dead. Did you see that robe?"
"Yes, Celes, I saw it. And since when were you so judgmental of your friends?"
Sabin spoke up, adding, "Yeah, Terra's your friend, Celes. She might have just run into trouble or something on her way here. Figaro Desert isn't such a nice place for someone traveling by foot."
"Hey everybody, lets not get angry," Setzer interjected. "This is supposed to be a party, so let's have some fun!"
* * *
Terra hurried toward the guest chambers, holding back tears.
I can't believe I let Locke see me like that! He must think I'm some poor beggar woman or a Vector tramp or something else horrible! Oh, and even Celes got a little high and mighty! And to think, I thought they were my friends!
Arriving at the guest room, two servants took her dirty tan robes and supplied her with a new, fancy dress as quickly as they could. They gave Terra a comb and bucket of water to fix her hair and wash up, ushering into a small powder room.
After cleaning herself up, Terra emerged from the little room, a much better-looking woman. She looked at herself in the mirror, adjusted a few things, and set out to find her Edgar was holding the main function.
* * *
As the hired band played one of their slower, more romantic songs, Locke took Celes in his arms, and the couple swayed back and forth, embracing one another, until Celes whispered in Locke's ear:
"Honey, wanna go …use… the bathroom?"
Locke grinned.
* * *
As Terra entered the room where a guard had told her everyone had gone, she wondered why Edgar had bothered to hire a band when only eight people had shown up, and only one couple would dance together.
"Hey, Terra." Sabin had snuck up behind her, right after she'd walked through the door.
He had a drink in his hand.
Sabin took one step toward her. Remember in what had happened at the previous Figaro party, Terra took a step back, but it was too late. Sabin had already proceeded to pretend to trip.
SPLASH!
The beer simply flew out of Sabin's glass, coating Terra's dress and pinning it right up against her figure. Sabin stood up. "Heh, heh…. Sorry, Terra," he said.
Terra glared at him. "My eyes are up here," she said. Sabin looked up to meet her gaze.
"Uh… sorry again," Sabin apologized. Terra turned away indignantly.
Cyan, Setzer, and… yes, even Mog were standing right there. "You all ought to know my eyes are up here, too."
They all looked up.
"Um, yeah, sorry Terra."
"Thy was only stretching thy neck, milady."
"Yeah, what Cyan said, kupo!"
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr….. the same thing happened last time. I should have expected it again, from Sabin. Guess I need to go clean up.
The guest room was across the castle. There was no reason to walk all the way over there when there was a bathroom right over on the other side of the not-so-big party room.
* * *
Edgar watched Celes whisper something in Locke's ear as the two were dancing, then head for the bathroom with Locke in tow. He watched Sabin sidle up to Terra and pull the same stunt he had at the last party from about fifteen feet away. He watched Terra slap Sabin and turn to go to the bathroom, probably to clean up.
He knew what Locke and Celes had done in that bathroom a while ago and knew about Terra's feelings for Locke. He couldn't let her heart be inadvertently broken by him again.
"Terra!" Edgar called as he moved away from the wall he'd been leaning against.
* * *
As Terra neared the bathroom, she heard Edgar and Locke's voices simultaneously.
"Terra!"
"Oh, Celes…"
She should have guessed.
She felt something stab her in the heart as tears rushed to her eyes and Edgar rushed to her side.
"Oh, Terra…" As Terra burst into tears, she held on to the nearest thing - Edgar. "Terra," he said, "you should know by now that Locke loves Celes. He's loved Celes since they first met her, and she loves him back."
"I know, Edgar, I know. But I just can't help myself, I love him so mu-mu-much!"
Those words tore at Edgar's own heart like a flail. But, now, while Terra was in his arms, he needed to tell her. How she meant the world to him, and how he would've liked to strangle Locke for not realizing Terra's love for him, and not caring about anyone but him and Celes.
And he did.
"Ed-Edgar? You really mean that? I'm not just another conquest or woman on your list?"
"No, Terra, no. You never were. From the moment I first met you, I had a feeling, I don't know what, maybe of true love, towards you. Maybe I feel the same way about you, you feel about Locke. Maybe you're the 'one' for me, the one you read about in all those sappy romance novels. No, not maybe. You are the-"
Terra put a finger to his lips, to silence him. She pulled him out onto the dance floor, as the band finished playing their old song, and started up a new one, a slow one, a more romantic one.
And as the one couple in the room danced, Terra realized why Edgar had hired the band.
Her.
Notes: Awwwww…… sappy, ain't it?