DREAMCATCHER 2 [Dreaming Awake]

This is a FF7 ff, the sequel that follows Dreamcatcher, a story of an improbable love, self-discovery and constant fight… a fight for survival and a quest for sanity, that inevitably did not end well. Sora was separated from the General, and now both are painfully unaware of their fate. And now, several questions are posed: what will happen to them, will they see each other again… and, most important of all… what are Jenova's intentions? Riddles, evading words and strange mental dialogues cannot happen in vain.

So, I invite you in.

Disclaimer – I do not own FF7 nor its characters and settings. Only Sora is a product of my imagination.

OPENING ACT

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused

Sweet Dreams (Are made of this) – Cover song performed by Emily Browning

PROLOGUE

Sora's POV

His arms felt so good, so tender and caring. His words sounded so true, so filled with nostalgia and sorrow.

But why, General.

Why did you leave me?

It was cold around me. The cold kind of… hospital wards and white, impersonal wall. I felt so sleepy, so… alone.

My eyelids were heavy and all I could feel was the indifference, the lonely and hard surface beneath my body, where I rested – alive, only because my heart kept beating, only because the man I loved gave up on himself to save me.

His humiliation, his surrendering… all of it still lingered inside me like a hurtful drill, opening wounds and creating new ones.

How could I live without him, without his peculiar stare and his tempting scent, teasing my feeble senses and making me love him even more. Each time more, more intensely, more… eagerly.

Where are you, my angel?

My mind spoke to him, muted words and silent speeches that would never be heard. He wasn't here, next to me. He wasn't here, to hold me close and tell me everything was going to be fine.

I felt his absence.

I sensed his distance.

I was alone. Truly, unmistakably, alone.

My eyes finally opened, to face an insipid, grey-ish walled chamber. With no windows, only one door and… the bed I was laying on.

Blinking several times, I tried to focus. Most of all, I tried to remember what had happened, how did I end up here.

It didn't take me much to recall the moment. The moment of our separation, that artificially induced sleep that took him away from me.

His words… so despaired and tragic, so unlikely his.

And now what?... my mind roamed, as despair slowly took me, consuming me as frozen flame, as an icy fire capable of demolishing the whole Planet.

Silently, my eyes betrayed me and, before I knew it, tears fell over my face. And while I, laying on my left side in that cold, uncomfortable bed, uncontrolled sobs escaped my throat, echoing in that cold chamber. Out of shame, I covered my face with my hands, trying to hide. Hide the shame, hide the weakness, hide the terrible way I missed the man I loved, so cruelly taken from me.

And so, like a child I wept, until something happen.

Something.

To die.

To live.

Or maybe, just simply… linger.

Not very far from the two chambers under constant surveillance, two guards remained seated, facing the screens that fed them live images. Both held the most surprised frowns on their face, as they processed the images bathing their retinas.

One screen showed the woman – the woman caught with the resurrecting General, under the strangest circumstances. She cried, laying in the bed, with obvious despair, most likely grieving over the situation. Her sobs were the only sound provided by the sound system. She didn't speak, didn't scream, didn't say a thing at all.

She only shed tears.

However, the other screen – the contiguous screen depicted the most astounding image. An image that made the two surveillance guards open their mouths with amazement, shock…and fear. Fear of the unknown, because everybody knew the General was special. The man was, simply, way above the regular human.

For several hours in a row the General stood, facing a wall, untiring, alert and focused. But that was not a random wall – it was the wall contiguous to the woman's chamber. He faced that wall as he was able to see and hear what was happening there. Through it.

Which was, of course, impossible, because the whole chambers where soundproof, build to resist the most destructible force on the Planet.

And as she cried, his hand slowly raised, to finally touch the wall. As he touched it, he breathed unevenly a couple of times, and we were able to sense a disturbance in the environment of the room.

He was mad, angry and revolted, there was no doubt about that.

And as she wept, his eyes suddenly met ours.

How, how could he possibly know the location of the concealed camera inside his chamber? How?

But he did – very accurately, he did. And as his mako, alien eyes scrutinized our own, he spoke, very, very neatly.

"If she's in pain… I'll kill you."

Shivers ran through our spines, and we had no choice but to alert the man in charge for this whole mission. Because all this was too much for regular humans such as we were. Simply… humans... frightened.

Because he was our General, after all. Our General, a fiery beast now locked and angry inside a cage.

"Call Tseng. He must see this."

...