How had it come down to this?
Somehow, Kefka had captured Celes and Terra as they had been trying to enter the Magitek facility. The former General could only presume that use of Stop magic had been involved, as she had barely blinked just in time to find herself tied to the ground in a kneeling posture.
And she knew for a fact that many of the ropes served no purpose. Only those binding her hands and legs had a role, and they were separate from the web of them criss-crossing her torso. Judging by the way the ropes were tied around certain parts of her anatomy the intent was obviously to humiliate her.
Terra, meanwhile, stood as still as a statue, with Kefka looking at her in a rather revolting manner. Celes felt herself growling angrily just at the thought of what he might have been thinking. Terra stood with a startled look on her face, still grasping a now invisible sword, likely discarded by Kefka. Her wide eyes stared blankly into nothing, as Kefka heard the sound from his second captive.
"Oh, has my little spell worn off, Celes? I'd ask for your help recapturing our little half-esper but I can see you're tied up with other things!" The clownish General cackled.
"Kefka... What did you do with the others?"
"Oh, them? Ah, they're not so interesting, are they. I have some soldiers chasing them. Well, I say some, it's more like the whole army. " He smirked.
"If it's your army I'd be surprised if they catch a cold."
Kefka chuckled, and enjoyed the angry look she gave him when he stroked the time-frozen Terra's chin.
"I wonder if you can still growl like that once I finish the experiment? Surely a hypno-crown will still let you act possessive of your stolen toy?"
"She's not a toy... She's a human being, and my friend!" Celes snapped.
Kefka leaned on the green-haired living statue, and played with her hair. The time-stopped locks hung in the air when he released them.
"Oh, but she was a toy to me. Just my little puppet. I held strings to her head and pulled them. Her body was my body... And whilst there are some who might think to use such a wonderful specimen for a certain activity I knew from day one she was a warrior with the right controller. And that was me, until she was stolen by ill luck..."
"Why did you send her to Narshe anyway?" Celes asked.
It had bugged her for some time. If Terra had been seen as an asset like Kefka implied, surely she would have had more than just two random soldiers sent with her?
"...Orders. The Emperor wanted results. As if frying those fifty soldiers wasn't good enough. Still... We all make mistakes, and it's very generous of you both to help me fix it. Oh, and did I tell you? One of Ghestal's maids has retired. Raising a family. Well, I told him I'd find a nice replacement. A nice blonde..."
Celes squirmed in her ropes, knowing his plan.
"It seems to hurt your head quite a bit. Terra writhed around for a while when we first put her Slave Crown on but then again she was only nine at the time. Maybe you'll hold up better?" He grinned, approaching her, and holding the golden headband in question.
She squirmed some more.
"Isn't all that struggling uncomfortable in those ropes? But no worries. Comfort is for thinkers..." He cackled, and slipped it on.
She screamed.
He struggle against the real ropes stopped. Now, there were ropes in her head, trying to tie down what made Celes Chere what she was.
'I can't let this win! I'm stronger than this piece of junk!'
As she fought to untie knots that were all in her head, she could still see and hear. She sat still kneeling, but with a grimace on her face, displaying her turmoil openly, along with the occasional groan of pain. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed harder.
And all she could do while fighting off the crown was stare, and what she saw made that fight harder.
"Now... Terra... She'll unstop soon. I got you first and taunted Terra for a little while. Slowed her down and hasted myself so I ran rings around her. Time magic is wonderful stuff... Of course it does wear off. I had to keep casting it and casting it to stop you escaping while I posed you and tied you.
Celes couldn't feel her feet any more. Was this what it did? The crown took your body and left your mind trapped in itself?
Was this what Terra had suffered for nine years?
Kefka chuckled, holding a second crown over Terra's still frozen form.
"These don't work on people who are stopped you know. Pop it on, you unfreeze, the damn thing's just a garish hat. But when Terra wakes... She's mine again. Just like you'll be mine soon too."
Her whole body below the chest was as if it wasn't there. Her thoughts were muddled, and she could almost feel the knots getting tighter and tighter in her mind.
"I wonder if I have the time right. I should be right. Only a few seconds left..."
Below her neck wasn't responding. She could barely hear now, barely think. Her eyes were trying to close, but staying open. Kefka and Terra were only feet away but the distance seemed to be stretching into yards and miles...
"And she's up... and down..." Kefka's distant voice echoed as Celes felt an odd relaxation.
The last thing she heard properly was Terra scream.
And then all hell broke loose.
There was a bright glow from Terra. Celes couldn't hear any more, and somehow she knew her real conciousness was slipping away into the back of her mind. She could barely remember any more what was happening... As Terra was replaced with an irate, glowing purple, humanoid form.
If Celes was lucid enough, she would have noticed the Slave Crown on Terra's head burning away as if it was paper. She would have saw Kefka jump back not with fear but with glee. She would have felt Terra slice the ropes away, felt the crown be pulled from her and melted...
...But as it was, all she noticed was that she was now standing, her head was killing her, and she was panting for breath as Terra held her stable.
"...Kefka..." Terra said.
It wasn't a growl. It wasn't even a threat. And given her monstrous Esper form, strangely not voiced in some sort of demonic voice. It was just Terra, her normal pitch and tone.
The way she said the name was the same way she would say something like Tuesday. And even though Celes was not the target, the way she managed to say a word with such a mundane pronunciation yet still make it clear that she was not happy chilled the blonde former General to the core.
It amused Kefka, however.
"...Just as planned, eh? Thanks for that, Terra! I had to confirm just how powerful you were..."
And before either of them knew it, Kefka waved a hand and the world had stopped.
It was the blink of an eye for Celes but she wasn't too shocked to be once more bound and trapped. This time though, she was strapped to a wall, with steel shackles. There seemed to be numerous syringes hovering on small metal limbs above the areas strapped down.
Terra, still in her Esper form, was strapped across from her, and still stopped. Her face was at least frozen in an angry glare this time. Kefka smirked again. The room was full of various scientists, likely all Kefka's lackeys.
"Ah, Celes, awake again? Welcome back. Now, as you might have realised, I had planned this out. I didn't want you two hypnotised slaves. The Slave Crowns can be undone too easily. But I also wanted Terra at her very best, most in tune with her power before I finished my project."
"Project? What project?" Celes snarled.
Kefka grinned.
"The GOLEM Project. It doesn't mean anything even though we spell it in all capitals but it's catchier that Bio-Integrated Magitek Slave Armour. That's the goal. That'll be you."
"...Slave Armour? What?"
"Oh, it's simple. You know Magitek walkers? We turn you into one of them. It's a spell and a magitek infusion all in one... And with a Slave Crown integrated into the process, irreversible except by whoever controls that crown."
Kefka released his signature cackle at this point.
"Ah, but I should show, not tell. Terra will awaken soon... Deja vu! Except this time she's first... Wouldn't want to lose this wonderful Esper form..."
Celes struggled and cursed as Kefka waited. As soon as Terra stirred, Kefka shouted.
"Do it! Inject her!"
And at this, Celes saw the needles shoot out on Terra's bindings, and even as Terra tried to rip herself from the wall, the needles struck her skin. Her eyes widened, and she slumped down in the shackles.
At the same time, where the injections had struck, Terra's skin began to solidify. It started turning from a glowing light purple to a mirror shine purple of the same shade. She was transforming into metal.
"Terra!" Celes screamed.
The effects of the injection spread. It seemed patches of metal broke out everywhere, one in her chest above her heart as the injection began to accumulate from her blood flow. At her joints the skin seemed to contract, and Celes heard an odd crunching noise as Terra's knees seemed to become a thinner layer of banded green metal, as the thigh and lower leg seemed to expand into a shape as if she wore a suit of armour.
Her other joints had the same effect. Slowly, she seemed to shift into that armour-like form, her pelvis and the portions of her limbs almost floating above the green "under-armour" metal below. Her stomach seemed to be made of the green metal, and oddly retained her belly button, but her upper chest became a literal breastplate.
Her face shifted, becoming like a helmet, a closed mouth and emotionless expression taking the place of Terra's own face, but recognisable still as what it once was. On her forehead, a small gemstone-like protrusion appeared, the integrated Slave Crown Kefka had spoken of
Her hair collected together, turning into the same colour as the "over-armour" but looking more flexible as each strand seemed to stay independent like a real hair. It remained a shimmering purple. Her neck was part of the green under-armour, and presumably that part of her was more flexible than the rigid outer plates.
Terra's eyes, however, had at first turned black. Her toes had vanished, her feet now like boots. Her hands retained their digits, delicate looking portions of fingers floating over the under-armour, tipped with sharp looking claws.
And then her eyes "opened", glowing yellow-orange, like an intense flame.
"...Beautiful, isn't she?" Kefka cackled as Celes stared in horror. She did not notice the scientists leaving the room, but she did see Kefka move to leave.
"Where are you going?!" She spat with fury.
"Oh, me? Well, we have a second part to this test. And I'd rather not be the subject..." He cackled, for as he reached the door, the shackles undid themselves.
Celes fell forward, stumbling, but what had been Terra stepped down with perfect balance. Meanwhile, Kefka sealed the door behind him, watching through a window.
"If it helps, Terra doesn't mean anything personal with what she's going to do..." He cackled.
"Terra? Terra, can you hear me? You have to still be in there somewhere..." Celes tried, approaching the newly-made Slave Armour cautiously.
It was a mistake. A shining purple limb shot out, claws jabbing into her neck.
"Gha! Wha...." Celes managed, before feeling light headed.
The other limb grabbed her, and the Slave Armour held Celes up as her limbs relaxed. Where she had been stabbed by the claws felt cold, and her head was feeling like the knots were back. The chill feeling spread and spread, as the ropes in her mind came down with almost no resistance.
She stared at what had been Terra, into the glowing eyes. Eyes that grew further and further away. Kefka's laughter echoed. In the shine of Terra's new face, Celes saw patches of blue-silver mirrors growing across her body, a light grey under-armour forming as the blackness claimed her... As the last of her body could no longer be felt and she could no longer hear the distant cackles.
Kefka surveyed his two successful experiments as the newly-made Slave Armour began to stand by itself. It still wore Celes's green leotard and cape, but the new Armour ripped them away. It sliced away the redundant clothing. Golden metal wire hair shimmered as her head shifted, and as one, the two Slave Armours turned to face Kefka. Twins were it not for their colouration and hair.
Celes now had cold blue-white eyes, as chill as ice. Both former women had their faces locked in the same expressionless mask.
"Now... What to call you two... Ah, yes... Fire and Ice. A fitting pair of names, don't you agree, Celes and Terra?"
Kefka cackled.
"Oh, but you can't. You two are just a memory stored in the back of the robot brain now. And you'll stay there for a long time. Only one person can ever revert you back to human and half-esper..."
He cackled as he walked in, and stroked the chin of the purple Armour now dubbed Fire. His cackle grew louder as a harmless electronic growl came from Ice.
"And let me tell you, my new toys... I don't plan on doing that ever."
The cold eyes of Ice and the burning glare of Fire gave no response.