I dreamt this.
No shit, I actually did. It was two separate dreams; I'm nowhere near done transcribing it. The dream stuck in my head and I decided to write it down. Some of this is my own invention, but for the most part, it's my dream, so I credit the idea to my dream-muse, whoever that may be.
Tasha
"Approaching event horizon."
"Be careful, damnit." A voice bleeped through the speaker of the single-occupant spacecraft. "I know you want to get some recorded documentation on black holes, Amy, but don't go getting sucked in. Remember, we don't know what's through there."
"I know." The girl rolled her eyes and flipped a switch. "Five miles from event horizon."
The event horizon was the point of no return for a black hole. Amy supressed a thrill of fear that ran through her body at being this close, and instead flipped another switch. This one released probes which would, hopefully, record information and relay it back to the station.
"Recieving information feed." The voice said again. "Amy, you're getting a little close there. We're reading one mile from event horizon.
"Yeah, I'm gonna see if I can see it." Amy peered out.
"Lieutenant Durham, you are ordered to get your butt back to the station. You've done your duty."
"Come on, I've still got a half a mile."
"Get back, Lieutenant. Now."
Amy felt a slight slipping, and blinked, pushing on reverse thrusters. "The event horizon has extended beyond original perameters."
"Yeah, no shit, get back here!"
"Reverse thrusters aren't working." Amy felt a puddle of doubt in her belly. "I seem to be stuck."
"We can send..."
"No." She heard her voice echo throughout the small spacecraft. "That won't be necessary; it would just be more useless waste. I'm sorry. Are the probes recording?"
"What?" Muttering. "Yes, the damn probes are recording. Get back here, Lieutenant!"
"Sorry." She repeated. A jerking sensation, as if she'd been yanked forward by her gut, and she felt a slipping. She was expanding, contracting, being crushed, and exploding, all at once.
"Amy! Get back here!" A tinny voice was screaming. She flipped one last switch--one that would shut off the radio--before the blackness rushed forward to consume her.
Amy could feel her body. She could feel everything except for her head. She couldn't see; her limbs felt like they were swollen, or wrapped in gauze.
"There, now." A voice said to her right. She struggled to open her eyes, but couldn't.
"You should be fine. Quite a fall you had." A pat, and then the sound of someone walking away.
"You don't think she's a Sorceress, do you?" Another voice, tenor, and male.
"I doubt it." A deeper tenor. "She would have gotten herself out of the ship."
"Most likely." A baritone.
"You'd know, wouldn't you, Seifer?" The higher tenor asked.
A silence, and then the sound of someone retreating.
"I wasn't being an asshole."
"I know you weren't, Zell." The other tenor said, tiredly. "He's a little touchy now that the Sorceress War is over."
"I'd be touchy too." Both of the men started to walk away.
Amy tried once again to open her eyes, but it wasn't working...it really wasn't.
Ah! A sliver of light.
She didn't know how long she'd been on that table. She'd given up trying to keep track of time. Time only has meaning when you have a way to measure it by. She didn't.
Now, however, that would change. She opened her eyes, amazed at how easy it was. She sat up, grimacing delicately at the current state of undress she was in.
A hospital gown. How....quaint.
She dangled her feet over the cool floor, knowing it would be cold but also knowing that she would have to trod apon it eventually.
A door opened and a short Asian woman walked out. "Oh! You're awake. That's good. Squall will want to know where you came from so suddenly."
"...Pardon me?" Amy asked, rather politely, she thought.
"Well, your ship crashed right near the Garden." The woman went around, clicking with hospital tools that Amy had never seen before in her life--and she had a double doc, one in Nursing.
"Garden?"
The woman frowned and turned back to her. "Garden, dear. The school for SeeD's."
"I've never heard of it." Amy said, flatly. A sound of something whooshing near her, and she turned to see the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen in her life staring down at her. Emerald green eyes, sandy blonde hair, and a diagonal scar running between his eyes filled her vision. She blinked, and then turned back to the asian woman.
"Dr. Kadowaki." He said, and she recognized his baritone voice from earlier.
"Seifer." The woman, now identified as Doctor Kadowaki, said. She stepped away from Amy. "Does Squall want to talk to her?"
Seifer leaned against the doorjamb. "Our esteemed commander..." He drawled out, amused at something. "Would like you release the girl into my custody."
"What for?" A sharp note.
"Calm down, doctor, I'm to find her a set of clothes and bring her to his office after lunch." A chuckle. Green eyes focused on Amy, and she found herself gulping compulsively. "Well?"
Amy coughed. "Um...clothes. Right?"
"Sure thing." This Seifer gestured at her and turned, leading the way out of the infirmary.
"I'm feeling a little exposed here." Amy said, holding the back of her gown closed as she walked down nearly-deserted hallways.
"Don't worry, we're almost there, and everyone's in class right now." The man said, gesturing absently. He led her to a room marked "Supply."
"What's this?" Out of habit, Amy stood at attention, even as she asked the question. Seifer grinned and drew a set of keys out of his pocket.
"After the big war, Squall felt obligated to find me a job. I'm the supply officer here. And his general gopher." He slid the key into the unlocking mechanism and opened the door, gesturing for her to preceed him.
"What big war?" Amy asked, sliding into the room. Seifer eyed her, then shrugged.
"The Sorceress' War." He said, no trace of emotion in his voice. "The second one, anyway."
Hazy memories were painting their way across her mind, but she couldn't put two and two together. No matter. Seifer was eyeing her body; almost clinically, though, so she wasn't overly worried. "I'd say...size twelve?"
"Ten." She couldn't help the biting tone in her voice.
"Touche." Turning from her, Seifer pushed a bunch of hanging garments aside and rummaged around. "All we have is SeeD uniforms...if you can deal with that. You can get normal clothes at Balamb..."
"Honestly, sir, I'd rather wear a uniform. I was in the Army, research division..."
Seifer whirled around and stared at her for a second, blinking, before extracting, unerringly, a size ten uniform done in blue and silver and handing it to her. "Whatever. Tell Squall about it." He looked around, shrugged, and made for the door. "Let me know when you're finished changing."
Amy actually liked the....the SeeD (whatever that was) uniform. Every other girl she saw wore skirts with hers, but Seifer had given her pants. She liked pants.
Squall was the deeper tenor voice from the infirmary. He had a scar exactly the opposite of Seifer's, crossing the other way. She stared at that for a few moments, before blinking and actually paying attention to what he said. It was obvious he wasn't overly used to speaking at any length.
"...so we sort of found you. It would have been hard not to." He stared at her, storm-blue eyes taking in the professionally-done bun on the back of her head, the sharp SeeD uniform, the unquestionably military stance about her. "Have you been in SeeD before?"
"No. I don't know what SeeD is." Seifer snorted from his spot by the door. Squall threw him a dirty glance before looking back at her.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. I was in the Army."
"Army?"
"Based on the moonbase at old Terra." She inhaled. "We were working on my latest project, exploring a black hole."
"Black hole?" Squall wasn't, apparently, familiar with the term.
Seifer, however, was.
"A black hole, Leonhart." The now-familiar baritone voice drawled out. "A collapsed star. Gravity so intense it literally sucks anything near it into oblivion."
"Well...no one's really quite sure what's on the other side of a black hole..." Memory rushed back at Amy and she stepped back and blinked. "Although..."
"Yes?" Squall asked, politely.
"Well, I was at the event horizon in my craft...sending out probes...and I got...stuck." She frowned.
"You were at the event horizon?" Seifer was interested, now. "That's amazing."
"Yeah, except that it had expanded." She frowned again.
"If you two are going to speak in tongues...." Squall said, also frowning.
"The event horizon is the point at which you don't yet risk getting sucked into a black hole." Amy supplied, absently. She frowned again. "This place is so damned familiar, but it's not my home at all. Where..."
"Familiar?" Seifer looked at her, quizzically. "How?"
"I'm not sure..." She closed her eyes. "I just...I think I need to sit down."
She felt a little dizzy, and was surprised when strong arms caught her in her sudden descent towards the floor. They settled her into the chair. A few seconds later she opened her eyes and looked up into concerned emerald ones.
"What was your rank?" Squall asked, businesslike.
"I was a lieutenant." Amy shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
"Lieutenant." The strange word rolled off of Seifer's tongue. "Sounds familiar, I'd say."
"Hm." Squall looked thoughtful. "Well, Lieutenant, Seifer here will show you to your room. Please let me know if you remember anything else." That obviously out of his mind, he sat down and began riffling through paperwork. Seifer shot Amy an amused look, and then held out his hand to help her out of the chair.
Once they were out in the corridor, he leant over towards her and whispered. "Don't let that get to you. He's like that with everyone but Rinoa."
"It's alright. I had a First Sergeant like that once." Amy whispered back. Seifer grinned.
"I think you're gonna get along well here."
"Well, you can, of course, opt to train as a SeeD, but if I may say so myself, you're a little old to be just entering training." The blonde woman in front of her said, adjusting her glasses. "Headmaster Cid is of the opinion that you may prove to be an asset to Garden, should you decide to stay here."
"Well..." Amy began, thoughtfully. "Can't you just..test me?"
Instructor Trepe, for that was her name, stared at her. "Excuse me?"
"I've got military training. That much is obvious to everyone. Why don't you test me? See if there's any holes in my education for SeeD?" She blinked. "It makes sense. Why get trained in the same stuff over?"
"It does make sense." Seifer said.
"Shut up, Mr. Almasy." Instructor Trepe said, bringing her hand to her forehead. "It is a good idea, however, and I will ask Headmaster Cid."
The former Sorceress' Knight winked at Amy before leading her out of the room. "I'm willing to bet that they'll test you."
She smiled. Having been informed of the recent history of this universe, she'd come to her own private conclusions about where she was. The fact that Seifer had, until recently, been under the control of a deranged sorceress from the future didn't bother her. He was nice to her, and she reciprocated.
He was probably the only person she'd consider a friend in this place. She'd met a few people--Squall's girlfriend, Rinoa (whom she wasn't overly fond of...a little too whiny for her tastes), Zell (the higher tenor voice from her unconsciousness), Selphie, Irvine. Selphie had automatically invited her to join some committee, to which she respectfully declined. Zell hyperly shook her hand, and Irvine had given her a once-over before getting hit by Selphie. There was also a dark-haired boy named Nida, whom she avoided wherever she could. The Garden pilot had developed a crush on her in the two weeks she'd been at Garden.
"Obviously, you're going to need instruction in magic...since you don't seem to have that there." Seifer said, conversationally. She nodded, keeping in step with him automatically. His white trench coat contrasted perfectly with the blue of her trousers, which amused her.
"Of course." She said.
"What weapons do you use?" Seifer asked.
"Well...all soldiers are taught to use handweapons like guns and rifles." She was taken aback by the question. "I have informal training in bladework, but I'd be a little rusty."
"Hm. Wonder how you'd do with a gunblade?" Seifer mused to himself. They passed two people in the hall, a silver-haired woman and a dark-complected boy. "Yo, Fuj, Raj, what's up?"
"NOTHING." The woman said.
"Ya, man, it's really boring now. Like, the sorceress scared the kids into behaving and stuff, ya know?" The boy said.
Seifer snorted. "Yeah, well, I'd help, only I'm not allowed on the Disciplinary Committee now that I'm not a student anymore." He rolled his eyes. "The good old days it ain't."
"You got that right, man." The two nodded at each other and then the groups parted.
"Old friends." Seifer said, at her inquisitory look.
She nodded.
"Anyway, what I was saying..."
"How do you use this thing?" It wasn't heavy; more like cumbersome.
"It's a gunblade, woman." Seifer rolled his eyes. "A sword and gun, together."
"Who's bright idea was that?"
"I dunno. Just take a hit at me."
Amy sighed, and then hefted the weapon by it's handle. It lifted easily from the ground, and she swung an experimental arc with it. She personally found it to be a clunky weapon, but it was obviously well crafted. Seifer told her it was a revolver, differing from his Hyperion model by a few major points, but good for basic fighting.
She felt for balance, and then closed her eyes...and the distance between Seifer and herself.
When she opened them, she also swung her right arm--the one holding the gunblade--towards him. She felt the crash of metal as he retaliated, and backed off. She knew now how this weapon would act in battle, and settled into learning how Seifer would act in battle.
He was very skilled, she knew this. He had years of practice with a weapon she had just picked up. However, she did have years of practice with weaponry in general, and prided herself on being adaptable. They fought for a little under an hour, and while she wasn't able to get a mark on him, she could say with assurance that he hadn't gotten in once, either.
"You sure they don't have gunblades there?" Seifer asked, mopping his brow. "You're pretty good."
She shrugged. "It's not too different from either of my personal choices of weapon."
"Well, Cid'll want you in SeeD. He likes gunblade specialists; you're almost as good as I am, so you might as well choose that as your weapon." He gave her a sidelong look. "Unless you wanna be like cowboy geek and just be a sharpshooter."
"No, thank you." Amy wrinkled her nose. "I much prefer bladework."
A blur of yellow, and suddenly Selphie was standing in front of them. Amy stopped suddenly, still unused to the hyper younger girl's methods of appearance.
"Ew, you two are all sweaty and gross." She was saying. "Anyway, Squall says that you two have to come up to his office, he's got something to tell Amy, and that Seifer needs to be there now." She cocked her head. "Any idea?"
"Not really." Seifer said, closing his hand around Amy's upper arm and dragging her away from Selphie. "We'll go up there now, thanks, Selphie."
He dropped her arm as soon as they rounded a corner. "I can't stand that girl, sorry."
"It's alright." Amy replied, rubbing her arm ruefully. "Squall's office?"
"Sure. Then lunch." Seifer made a face at her and patted his stomach. "Garden is full of useful, high-tech gagets, but they can't find something to stop hunger."
"The human stomach is very primative." Amy said, dredging up a quote from a book read long-ago. "It likes to be filled at regular intervals."
"Very true." Seifer said. He shouldered his Hyperion and grinned at her. She did the same and followed him to Squall's office.
"We junction GF's by using rings." Quistis explained. "The ring contains the spirit of the GF. Go ahead, put it on. It's Shiva."
Amy eyed Quistis warily, but did so. And dropped the ring as soon as she touched it.
"Not compatable at all." Quistis clucked her tongue. "Well, then, try Ifrit."
Not as bad, this time; she actually managed to get the ring on. But she wasn't comfortable.
"Hm. Well, let's see..." Quistis looked at the myriad of rings that were surrounding her. Then she eyed Amy for a second and her expression became thoughtful. "I wonder..." She chose a ring and shoved it at Amy. "Put it on."
She did. And smiled, triumphantly. "I like this one. It's comfortable."
"Very strange." She smiled. "Well, it seems that you're most compatable with Bahamut. Dragon-queen indeed." Quistis smiled impishly for a second, belying her serious nature. "I don't think anyone's ever been completely compatable with Bahamut since before para-magic was developed."
"I guess there's a first time for everything." Amy said, almost in awe of herself. Bahamut; ruler of the dragons. He was legend even in her own world. Bahamut, Tiamat, Dragon-King (or queen, depending on the legend you chose to believe). And she was compatable with him?
She smiled.
"So now that you've been instructed in the art of magic-use..." Squall began, impatiently.
"Ah, yes. Seifer says you've chosen to take up the gunblade?" Quistis asked.
Amy nodded.
"He says you're good." Squall said.
"Which is a compliment, coming from him. Quite a compliment." Quistis said.
"Yeah." Squall said. He brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Anyway, he's going to be instructing you in the gunblade, and Quistis here in magic." He scowled. "You're competant in everything else."
Why she got the feeling that that annoyed him, she didn't know. But that feeling disappeared as a rare smile lit his face.
"We finally found something to occupy Seifer with."