Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.
A barely perceptible electronic click sounded from a clock radio. Complete silence hovered in the air for a brief moment before a loud crackling announcement boomed throughout the partially darkened dorm room.
"Sunspots and solar flares, a few of which may be large, are expected to disrupt some radio signals throughout the area. The heightened solar activity will..."
A pale hand reached up and out of the darkness to slap the snooze button on the alarm clock, cutting the radio announcer's voice short. It only took her two tries. Considering it wasn't her dorm room or her alarm clock, it was pretty good aim for somebody who was more than half asleep.
"Noooo," Rinoa whined in a low voice, "need more sleep." She swatted in the direction of the alarm clock again as she turned over to keep sleeping.
"Hey!" complained an unfamiliar voice. "Don't hit the snooze button. It's Monday and it's time for me to get up."
Blankets and sheets rustled, pillows moved, someone groaned.
"Ouch, watch it!" Quistis exclaimed as Rinoa turned over on the floor and elbowed her friend in the side. Rinoa managed to steal Quistis' borrowed quilt and cocooned herself into a warm blanket burrito. "Hey, I'm cold," Quistis complained as she wrapped her arms around herself for warmth. Trabia was more than just chilly. The frigid air of the dorm room bit at her exposed arms and legs. A thin nightgown was fine for Balamb weather, but not here. Quistis tried to pull the blanket away from Rinoa, but it was an impossible task. Rinoa seemed to have gained strength in her sleepy and stubborn state. "Fine!" Quistis said while giving up on any more sleep or warmth for that matter.
"Selphie, are your SeeD friends always like this?" asked Holly, Selphie's Trabian friend.
"Oh, don't mind Rinoa. She's really hard to wake up because she's just not..." Selphie took a dramatic pause, "...a morning person. And she's not a SeeD anyways because... It's just that she's... um..."
"She's our special friend," Quistis supplied quickly. "Even though she didn't attend any of the Gardens, we thought she'd enjoy visiting with us." She tried to give Selphie a strong look in the dim dorm room.
"Okay," said Holly while looking towards Rinoa's bundled form with narrowed eyes and a new suspicion.
"Oh yea, she loves Gardens because... um... she likes unusual architecture or something. So that's why she has an interest in all the Gardens," Selphie said. "I mean, she will once she gets up, showers, gets some coffee and breakfast in her. Then she'll be enjoying her visit, and I just wanted her to see my old school so much. And she could get outdoors and enjoy the cold weather too."
"Yes enjoy the cold weather. Very brisk," Quistis pretended to agree as she wrapped her arms around herself even tighter. "And the rebuilding of Trabia has gone well over the past few years. Impressive." She said as she tried to ease over Rinoa's unintentional morning rudeness to their host, and also close any further inquiry towards Rinoa's very unique affiliation with Balamb Garden.
"Okay," Holly said while shrugging and relaxing her formerly tense body language. She'd do anything for her good friend Selphie, even if it was cramming a bunch of strangers into her tiny dorm room for a few days for a visit. She didn't want to force her friend to camp outside in the cold just because she was uncomfortable with this many unfamiliar people, even if one of them seemed suspicious.
Holly smoothed her long brown hair behind her ears as she got out of her bed and reached for her favorite striped shirt that was slung over the back of her desk chair. "I'm going to go take a shower and get started on my duties. I hope everybody has a good visit." She quickly grabbed the rest of her clothes before going to the bathroom and turning on the light. For a moment a stream of light bathed the room in a pale glow. However, once the bathroom door was shut, it left them sitting around in the partial darkness again.
"Nice going Rinoa," Selphie said while walking across the dorm room and nudging the bundle of blankets in the butt with her foot. "Try to be a little sweeter to my friends here. This trip is important to me."
Rinoa let out a muffled groan in response. Selphie knelt next to her to try and actually get her to wake up. She grabbed the blankets and started to pull, but Rinoa hung on. Selphie stuck her foot on Rinoa's bundled form and started to tug on the blanket ends to try to unroll her.
"Ugh, get up. Get up! GET UP!" Selphie chanted loudly while grunting.
Selphie, choose your battles wisely," Quistis remarked while watching her useless efforts.
Selphie thought she could do it if she just tried hard enough. A rough kick and forceful tug seemed like a good strategy, and if she hadn't heard stitches starting to pop, she was positive she would have been able to get Rinoa up. Although she figured Holly wouldn't appreciate one of her quilts being ruined just to wake up a sleepy friend.
Selphie sighed while letting go of the quilt, and the heavy bundle flopped back down on the ground. Rinoa wiggled in response like a caterchipillar and stayed cocooned and slow, and most importantly, warm.
"It's best to just let her be for now," Quistis said.
Quistis was full of good advice, so Selphie figured it was a lost cause and went looking for her travel bag. They could get started on their day now, but Rinoa seemed content to get a later start. That was good enough, this was meant to be a fun little getaway for all her Balamb friends. It wasn't exactly Rinoa's fault that she hadn't been conditioned since childhood to get up at the crack of dawn. Although Selphie couldn't understand why so many people disliked mornings. It was fun to get up and get moving. You could get up and look forward to your entire day. And that wasn't the only thing to look forward to either.
"Well, I'm happy to get up for breakfast even if Rinoa isn't," Selphie said while brushing out her hair. "Rinny is going to miss out on chocolate chip pancakes smothered in hot syrup if she doesn't get moving soon," Selphie said while twirling her hair ends upwards. "Yum! Breakfast is the sweetest meal of the day!"
"Let's get moving and meet up with the guys in the cafeteria," Quistis agreed while getting to her feet. "And you manage to make most meals into dessert, not just breakfast," she said under her breath.
Selphie smoothed out her hair while picking out an outfit for the day from her bag. Another short dress would do, no matter what the weather held in store for them. She also pulled out a pair of thick woolen tights to protect her legs from the cold somewhat. She liked the look of short skirts and dresses, but if she was going to do any exploring outside later in the day, she didn't want her thighs to turn into popsicles if she could help it.
"Maybe I should leave a note for Rinoa, so she knows where we've gone," Selphie said while tapping her finger on her lips. She ran over to her friend's desk for some writing materials.
"I really doubt she's even going to wake up in the time it takes us all the eat breakfast," Quistis said while rummaging through her bag for her clothes.
Selphie was already in the process of writing a note to Rinoa, so she ignored Quistis' comment. Within moments she'd slapped a sticky note on Rinoa's butt that said, "WE'RE HAVING BREAKFAST IN THE CAFETERIA - SELPHIE." Rinoa rolled over, trying to get away from the disruptions in her early morning sleep.
"Just in case!" Selphie said with a smile.
Quistis shook her head at her, but continued to get ready for the day nonetheless. It would be a long day of touring Trabia and forced enjoyment of the freezing cold weather. At least it would be educational. It never hurt to learn more about the other Gardens.
Squall, Irvine, and Zell sat at a table in Trabia's cafeteria. Trabia Garden was smaller than Balamb Garden, but its cafeteria seemed to be just as busy. Students came and went grabbing their early morning breakfasts. The smells of coffee and sweet pancakes drifted throughout the cafeteria. The scene could have been described as cozy if it had been warmer in there.
Unkempt and rumpled hair hung around Irvine's face. For once he did not have an easy smile on his lips. He looked irritated. Zell's eyelid twitched while he frowned across the table at Irvine. He gripped his knife and fork while glaring at the cowboy. Tension hung in the air between them.
Only Squall seemed unperturbed that morning. His face was a mask of neutrality. He focused intently on the steam arising from his black morning coffee. It wafted upwards in delicate curls. He wrapped his hands around the mug for warmth. The chilliness of the morning permeated even to the cafeteria. The amount of large windows in the cafeteria let in far too much cold. He thought that the building needed more insulation and less windows for this region's climate. His internal thoughts kept him occupied so he didn't have to pay attention to whatever was going on with Irvine and Zell.
"That wasn't the night I'd envisioned when Selphie asked me on a getaway to Trabia," Irvine said sourly while trying to smooth out his hair. The pallor of his skin contrasted starkly with the dark purple shadows that pooled beneath his tired and bloodshot eyes.
"You think I had fun sleeping on the floor? Or listening to your snoring all night while trying to stay warm under a thin blanket?" Zell asked. "Or do you think I had fun where you kept rolling over in the night and trying to cuddle up with me and calling me 'sugar'?"
Irvine tilted back on his chair and looked down his nose at Zell. His mouth opened so his teeth were showing, but it wasn't in a friendly gesture.
"Sorry, but I don't have any recollection of these events. Maybe you dreamed them," Irvine replied with his eyes half-lidded. "Wishful thinking Dincht?" he said while taking a bite of a hot biscuit he picked up off his plate.
Zell's eyes flashed with anger. He'd had a bad night. It was cold and cramped in the one spare dorm room all three of them were allotted. He figured Trabian accommodations would be sparse in comforts due to their focus on rebuilding, but he didn't know how uncomfortable they would be. There was only one narrow bed in the room and he and Irvine had fought over who got to sleep in it. While they'd been fighting, Squall had gone to the far side of the bed and went to sleep on the floor with just a borrowed pillow and thin blanket. Then Irvine implied that Zell couldn't handle sleeping on the hard floor, so that he should just take the bed. Then they'd fought some more. In the end, they both wound up sleeping on the floor, neither one wanting to take the room's only comfort. It was stupid.
Zell tried to gently stretch out the kink in his neck. Stupid floor. Stupid Irvine.
He tried not to respond to Irvine's provoking. He took a deep breath and gripped his fork tighter. Breath in. Breath out. Tension release. That's what Dr. Kadowaki had taught him to help with stress and to control his energetic outbursts. Breath in. Breath out. His nostrils flared with the effort.
Zell looked up at the smugness on Irvine's face and his eyelid twitched again. He suddenly stabbed the sunny side up egg that had been peacefully resting on his plate. The yolk oozed yellow goo all around the metallic tines of his fork. Zell frowned at his sudden breakfast violence. He figured he still had to keep practicing Dr. Kadowaki's methods. Maybe they'd help someday, but not today. He hated that people could rile him up so easily. He wished he could be calm.
"Hey guys!" a breathless voice sang behind Zell's ear. He started and jumped in his seat. His head swung around and he saw Selphie and Quistis. They looked like they had fared the night better, even if they had to cram into an already occupied dorm room. He figured girls were better suited to being cozy together. Although if he admitted that out loud, the girls would just say that boys complained more and weren't used to putting up with minor discomforts. Also, Quistis would object to them being called girls, as they were all over 18. Anyways, he figured they all just curled up under a bunch of blankets on the floor while giggling and gossiping with each other all night. He wished he could have joined them. That would have been nice.
When Zell stopped daydreaming, he noticed that the girls, he mentally corrected himself, the LADIES had taken their seats near them with trays of breakfast foods. Well, most of the ladies anyways.
"Where's Rin?" Zell asked while trying to scoop up some of his mangled egg.
"She's decided to sleep in today," Selphie responded. "But hopefully she'll be up soon and I can keep showing you guys all around the newly rebuilt Trabia Garden," she pointed a sticky fork at Zell with a wink.
"I wouldn't count on her being up before lunchtime," Quistis said while taking a tentative sip of her piping hot tea. Squall nodded at Quistis' assessment of the situation.
"Lunchtime? Well, I guess we'll wait to go outside until after then. We can go out snowmobiling and hiking later today. Really experience the cold weather," Selphie said. "Rinoa is totally going to love it!"
Many, many hours later, three snowmobiles were parked in a vast snowfield as the daylight faded from the sky. The snow had been pristine before the group had arrived hours ago, but now snowmobile tracks and footprints muddled the entire area.
"I'm hungry. My butt is sore. My legs are getting tired," Rinoa said while stomping through the cold and powdery snow. "And they're freezing too. Can we start heading back now? We've been riding and hiking around in circles all day, and it's getting dark."
Rinoa clearly wasn't loving her trip as much as Selphie thought she would.
Selphie spun around to face Rinoa while adjusting her thick knitted hat. "But it's beautiful out here, and I wanted to show you Trabia. It's so cold and clear, and you're going to be able to see the full moon coming up soon. It's going to look so nice against the fading light of daytime. I love it when day turns to night. Everything seems to change and it's just so MAGICAL!"
Selphie scooped up some light snow and scattered it through the air. The snowflakes glittered in the dying sunlight like a gift from the faeries. Rinoa looked at the cold snow as if it were anything but magical pixie dust. Maybe she would have thought it to be more visually breathtaking of a sight if she wasn't actually struggling with her breath. The cold air was starting to hurt her lungs, and she neared her limit for the day.
She stomped her feet in the snow and shivered.
"You'll be okay for a while longer," Squall spoke softly to Rinoa while sensing her distress. Other than his nose being pink, he seemed to be handling the cold well. For once a fur collared leather jacket was an optimal choice for his day's activities. Currently he was much more comfortable hiking in Trabia than gunblade practicing in the hot fields outside of Balamb Garden, at least with his usual leather and fur collared jacket on.
"How come you're cold, but Selphie isn't?" Zell asked while looking at how bundled up Rinoa appeared to be. She was wearing a giant puffy coat, knee high boots, mittens, and a thick hat, all thanks to Selphie's many friends and their overflowing closets full of cold wear gear. On the other hand, Selphie wasn't wearing much in comparison. She had on a short winter jacket to go along with her gloves and hat. That was reasonable, but she was also wearing a short dress with thick woolen tights underneath and a pair of tall boots. The cold wind had to be cutting through those tights.
"She's not as used to extreme conditions like we are," Quistis said.
Rinoa turned and scrunched up her red nose at Quistis.
"Which makes sense," said Quistis. "She hasn't had our training."
"Can you guys stop mentioning that so much?!" Rinoa said while rubbing her mittens together for warmth.
"Don't worry 'bout it Rinoa, I'm cold too," Irvine said. "I mean, it is pretty freezing out here, and a big difference compared to Balamb. Nothing to get upset about."
Selphie trotted up to Rinoa and grabbed her coat's puffy arms. "Come on, what's that over there? We've explored every direction in this area but that one. Let's just check it out and then we can head back. No circles or anything. We'll go in a straight line and it'll take nearly no time at all... um... comparatively anyways."
Rinoa looked at Selphie with her chapped lips forming a frown.
Selphie widened her eyes while she smiled. It was a big wholehearted smile she focused on Rinoa. A smile that begged her to PLEASE PLEASE LIKE WHERE I COME FROM! A THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ME sort of smile. And the arch of her eyebrows said YOU OWE ME FOR SLEEPING UNTIL NOON AND MISSING PART OF MY TRABIA TOUR.
"Oh, um I guess that's okay with me," Rinoa responded. Sometimes Selphie's enthusiasm could be infectious, and she didn't want to trample on her soul or invoke her anger, which could be scary. Rinoa was already frozen, a little more exploring probably wouldn't kill her. And if she keeled over, Squall would drag her back. She'd be fine.
Selphie trudged ahead while pulling Rinoa along with her. They went ahead of the others to see what was at the edge of the tree lined snowfield. They walked into a dense forest of pine trees. Somehow it felt even colder than it had in the field, but at least the wind wasn't whipping at their faces. The pines and the snow muffled all sounds. There weren't any birds singing.
"Let's not get too far ahead, I don't want to get lost and then freeze to death," Rinoa remarked flatly.
"Come on Rinoa. Just a little more exploring in this pine forest, and then we can go back. This place is so quiet it's creepy, just like out of a magical and spooky fairy tale," Selphie replied while keeping a firm grip on Rinoa's arm. The grip wasn't out of fear, she was just concerned that Rinoa would run back to the snowmobiles if she let go. "It's like the big bad wolf could come and pounce on us at any second."
"Big bad wolf? I doubt that. Anyways, Irvine's way back there with the others," Rinoa replied while dragging her feet through the snow.
"HEY!" Selphie snapped at her while giving her a tug. She turned to yell at Rinoa some more when they stumbled across the end of the tree line. There was another snowfield and then a large drop off into a basin. She'd never seen this in Trabia before. It appeared to be a massive crater of some kind.
"Hmmm... how have I never seen this before?" Selphie asked out loud while forgetting Rinoa's comment about Irvine. She suddenly perked up. "Let's go investigate!" she said while shoving Rinoa in front of her. Rinoa nearly lost her balance at the sudden change in terrain. Her feet had to catch up so she wouldn't fall. Selphie jumped down after her. The gradually descending crater made them run down into the flat bowl of ground with ease.
"What could have made this?" Rinoa asked breathlessly while looking all around her.
The entire crater was a strange looking spot, and it felt weird too. They hadn't been hearing any birds chirping since they entered the pine forest, and it looked like there were absolutely no animals in sight in the clearing. They walked around in circles to investigate. Rinoa kicked her boots at the ground. There wasn't even any snow covering. She wanted to head back to Trabia Garden before, and now she really wanted to get out of this creepy crater before the ground opened up and swallowed them whole. Something just didn't feel right about this place. It felt like they were all alone as the light was quickly fading and the full moon was slowly rising overhead. The moon's glow didn't seem beautiful that night. Rinoa thought it had a sinister quality to it, but she wouldn't say something that silly out loud.
"Okay, we found something while exploring. I'm freezing, and how about we head back now?" Rinoa said quickly. She tried to push Selphie back up towards where they came from. "Where are the others?" she added under her breath while looking towards the tree line with desperation.
Instead of answering in her usual cheerful way, Selphie started getting withdrawn and cranky.
"Hey you're right, maybe I'm getting cold and tired too," Selphie said while taking a few wobbly steps. "I feel all weird." Her head shook from side to side slightly. She tapped at one of her ears with irritation. "Maybe my blood sugar is plummeting!" she exclaimed loudly while pulling her arms around herself protectively and swaying.
"How is that possible?" Zell shouted as he suddenly stood at the edge of the crater with Quistis. "You've been sipping hot chocolate from an insulated canteen all day. Your blood should be made of sugar. And that's not counting what we all saw you eat at breakfast."
Irvine and Squall came out of the pine tree forest and jumped down into the crater. Squall jogged down to stand near Rinoa while Irvine ambled towards Selphie. She was stumbling comically and Irvine thought she was going to pull some kind of joke or prank on them.
"Selphie, I'm feeling strange too. Are your ears ringing?" Rinoa asked weakly while she started stumbling backwards towards Squall.
Selphie didn't answer as she fell face forward on the ground. Irvine stood staring at her as if she was joking. Surely she'd pop up, maybe even throw a hidden snowball in his face. The wind whistled as cold air whipped at his face.
"Uh... guys?" Rinoa asked as she started tipping over. She would have fallen if Squall hadn't quickly caught her while she fainted. He lowered her onto the ground carefully. When she immediately didn't awaken, he took off one of his leather gloves so he could take her pulse. He pulled back the edge of her mitten and placed two fingers on the inside of her cool wrist.
"What do I do? What do I do?" Irvine asked while hovering over Selphie's motionless body.
Quistis and Zell ran down towards them. She grabbed Selphie's shoulder and rolled her over.
"She's facedown, roll her over so she has some air!" Quistis said.
Irvine grabbed at Selphie and started pushing and pulling her back and forth.
"Should I put her head in between her knees? Should I lay her flat? Should I hold her legs up so the blood gets to her head?" he asked in quick succession to Quistis.
"Is this the emergency training you received while at Galbadian Garden?" Quistis asked. She slapped his hands away while positioning Selphie flat on her back while gently inclining her feet. She rubbed at Selphie's stocking clad legs while casting a Cure and an Esuna on her. Nothing happened. She kept rubbing at her legs, maybe it would increase circulation and warm her up.
It felt like minutes had passed, but maybe it was only seconds. It was hard to tell when a lanky cowboy hovered over her while panicking.
"Shouldn't she be coming around by now? I've never seen her just faint like this before!" Irvine exclaimed. Her turned towards his friends, looking for answers.
Zell winced at Irvine's questions. It brought up a memory that he hadn't thought about in a while.
"Um guys, actually I have seen her like this before," Zell answered, "but that was a long time ago when we were on a train to Timber. And that was a seriously special case, and I don't think Ellone is responsible for this. At least she better not be. Squall asked her not to ever do that mind stuff without asking permission first again. It's dangerous just to lose consciousness. Maybe Selphie and Rinoa just caught some kind of illness. Or maybe it was food poisoning! What'd they eat today?"
"Selphie ate pretty much everything," Irvine said while trying to remember. "What did Rinoa eat?"
"I don't know, I never was in the cafeteria at the same time as her!" Zell said while pacing.
"I don't think this is food poisoning," Quistis said to them.
She looked back over at Squall who was tending to an unconscious Rinoa. He was carefully pulling her upright before swinging her body around and onto his back. It looked like he already had a plan. He walked towards his friends.
"I don't think she's going to get better here, and she's losing heat rapidly," Squall said. "Let's take them back to Trabia and get Balamb Garden to pick us up. They're mobile and hopefully not too far off. Maybe it will only take a few hours for them to get here. I want Dr. Kadowaki to examine them."
"I'm sure Trabia has doctors too. Why don't we have them do it?" Zell asked. "It'd be quicker and easier."
Squall looked at the ground and thought for a minute.
"I don't want anyone at Trabia to discover Rinoa's condition," Squall explained while blowing out a puff of frosty breath.
Zell's eyes widened suddenly before he turned red in the face. Quistis raised an eyebrow. Irvine looked shocked.
"You mean," Irvine started to say," she's pregnant?" he finished very quietly.
Squall's eyes narrowed at his friends, and he would have grabbed at his forehead if his hands weren't already occupied with carrying Rinoa's unconscious body.
"I meant that she's," Squall took a deep breath of air before continuing, "a sorceress."
"Oh!" Irvine exclaimed with a lopsided grin and a laugh. "Don't look at me like that. I didn't forget. It's possible to be two things at the same time alright. One doesn't exclude the other, or at least there hasn't been any reliable and concrete evidence to that effect anyhow," he said while trailing off. He didn't mean to make a weird and tense situation any stranger than it already was.
Squall shook his head. He didn't even want to discuss that topic further with his friends. He filed the awkward situation away in his brain to be forgotten.
"Let's carry them back to the snowmobiles quickly. Pick Selphie up and let's move out," Squall instructed. "Quistis, radio Garden and have them pick us up from Trabia as soon as possible."
Irvine grabbed Selphie like she was a sack of potatoes and slung her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Her head banged against his back and her knit hat fell onto the ground.
"Don't do that," Quistis said while fumbling with her radio handset. "Hold her like Squall would. She's a person, be careful with her!"
Once Irvine got Selphie properly situated, they climbed out of the crater and set out in the direction of their snowmobiles so they could head back to Trabia. The full moon started to glow as the day's light faded from the sky.
End of Chapter 1
Please read and review.