FFVI - Locke/Terra
Aug. 23rd, 2011 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lirillithTitle: Self-Reliance
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI
Characters: Locke/Terra
Length: 676 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Another prompt bywallwalker at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fic_promptly
****
He always had something to teach her or show to her - a secret passage in Narshe, a cactus in the desert surrounding Figaro with edible fruit, constellations as they camped on Mt. Koltz, and the stories about the constellations. Without even thinking about it, she always went to him with questions about anything she didn't understand. She never ate a mushroom until she was traveling with Edgar and Banon, separated from Locke.
It wasn't until Kefka reshaped the world that she ever regretted her reliance on him for knowledge. In Mobliz, she was the only adult. Duane and Katarin were nearly her own age, but they deferred to her automatically; she had to beg Duane to stop calling her "ma'am." They wanted to help her, but they didn't know, any more than she did, how to quiet a sobbing child awakened by night terrors, why her magic was so unreliable now, or which of the native plants around Mobliz were toxic and which edible. "We didn't really need to eat them," Katarin said, apologetically. Maybe Locke wouldn't have known, either. She didn't know if he'd ever been to Mobliz. But she would have felt better if she could have asked him.
There were so many things she wanted to ask him. Why was she finding it so hard to fight now? It wasn't that she didn't want to - she desperately wanted to make sure the children were safe, and she'd fling herself bodily at Phunbaba to make sure they were - but fighting no longer seemed to come naturally. Finding the focus and the magical power to cast a spell, knowing how to evade an attack and when to strike, none of that came easily anymore. Would he have understood it? She certainly didn't. But even if Locke was alive, he wasn't there. If she couldn't be as sure of everything as he'd always been, she needed to at least pretend she was, to reassure the children.
When he stepped into the decrepit building where she was trying to persuade Katarin to hear Duane out, she felt her heart lift in a way it never had before, not even when Celes and Sabin found the town. When he was knocked sprawling and she heard a whimper from a frightened child behind her, she knew what she had to do. This time, it was all instinctive, and the fire roared around Phunbaba as she charged at him.
Now she knew what she felt. She didn't need to ask him about this.
He waited until they were out of sight of Mobliz before he joined her at the railing of the airship's deck. "You were pretty amazing back there," he said.
"I didn't know you were conscious enough to be able to tell," she said. "Um, thanks."
"Am I bothering you?"
"No! It's just that there's been so much I wanted to say to you, it's hard to know where to start."
"Yeah, same here. I went from talking your ear off every time we had a minute, to never talking to anyone for days on end. I guess you didn't really have that problem."
"I just didn't have anyone who could answer my questions. I had to be the grownup."
He was silent for a second. "I never really thought of you as being like a kid before."
"I see it now, though. There was just so much I didn't know." She sighed. "There still is."
"Well, you've got me now. Ask me anything."
"Shouldn't I be learning how to stand on my own, though? I doubt you'll want to come back to Mobliz with me to help whenever the kids have questions."
"You can learn to stand on your own and still know there's somebody who'll catch you if you... I don't know, topple over backwards. Lose your balance. I guess I'm talking more about walking, but hey." He grinned down at her. "Besides, who says I don't want to come back to Mobliz with you?"
"It's not exactly scenic."
"I like ruins, remember?"
****
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI
Characters: Locke/Terra
Length: 676 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Another prompt by
wallwalker at fic_promptly ****
He always had something to teach her or show to her - a secret passage in Narshe, a cactus in the desert surrounding Figaro with edible fruit, constellations as they camped on Mt. Koltz, and the stories about the constellations. Without even thinking about it, she always went to him with questions about anything she didn't understand. She never ate a mushroom until she was traveling with Edgar and Banon, separated from Locke.
It wasn't until Kefka reshaped the world that she ever regretted her reliance on him for knowledge. In Mobliz, she was the only adult. Duane and Katarin were nearly her own age, but they deferred to her automatically; she had to beg Duane to stop calling her "ma'am." They wanted to help her, but they didn't know, any more than she did, how to quiet a sobbing child awakened by night terrors, why her magic was so unreliable now, or which of the native plants around Mobliz were toxic and which edible. "We didn't really need to eat them," Katarin said, apologetically. Maybe Locke wouldn't have known, either. She didn't know if he'd ever been to Mobliz. But she would have felt better if she could have asked him.
There were so many things she wanted to ask him. Why was she finding it so hard to fight now? It wasn't that she didn't want to - she desperately wanted to make sure the children were safe, and she'd fling herself bodily at Phunbaba to make sure they were - but fighting no longer seemed to come naturally. Finding the focus and the magical power to cast a spell, knowing how to evade an attack and when to strike, none of that came easily anymore. Would he have understood it? She certainly didn't. But even if Locke was alive, he wasn't there. If she couldn't be as sure of everything as he'd always been, she needed to at least pretend she was, to reassure the children.
When he stepped into the decrepit building where she was trying to persuade Katarin to hear Duane out, she felt her heart lift in a way it never had before, not even when Celes and Sabin found the town. When he was knocked sprawling and she heard a whimper from a frightened child behind her, she knew what she had to do. This time, it was all instinctive, and the fire roared around Phunbaba as she charged at him.
Now she knew what she felt. She didn't need to ask him about this.
He waited until they were out of sight of Mobliz before he joined her at the railing of the airship's deck. "You were pretty amazing back there," he said.
"I didn't know you were conscious enough to be able to tell," she said. "Um, thanks."
"Am I bothering you?"
"No! It's just that there's been so much I wanted to say to you, it's hard to know where to start."
"Yeah, same here. I went from talking your ear off every time we had a minute, to never talking to anyone for days on end. I guess you didn't really have that problem."
"I just didn't have anyone who could answer my questions. I had to be the grownup."
He was silent for a second. "I never really thought of you as being like a kid before."
"I see it now, though. There was just so much I didn't know." She sighed. "There still is."
"Well, you've got me now. Ask me anything."
"Shouldn't I be learning how to stand on my own, though? I doubt you'll want to come back to Mobliz with me to help whenever the kids have questions."
"You can learn to stand on your own and still know there's somebody who'll catch you if you... I don't know, topple over backwards. Lose your balance. I guess I'm talking more about walking, but hey." He grinned down at her. "Besides, who says I don't want to come back to Mobliz with you?"
"It's not exactly scenic."
"I like ruins, remember?"
****
