Nightmares
She never expected it to end like this.
Lying on the ground in a puddle of curdled
blood, every part of her body aching and the skin of her arms and legs burned
by her enemy's ultima spell.
'So that's it', Quistis thought hardly able to
focus her mind. 'I'm going to die. We're all going to die. Everyone… I'm sorry
I wasn't strong enough.'
She tried to keep her eyes open although she
felt an unbearable tiredness.
She knew that if she would fall asleep now all
the pain and torture would come to an end. Forever.
Squall was lying next to her. His eyes were
open and stared at her, but they were totally empty.
She could not bear the look of his dead eyes.
She had never thought that one of them would die. She had never expected to
lose a battle.
She turned her head.
Some steps away there stood her enemy. He was
the one who had done this to her. He was the one who had made her suffer.
The blond young man turned around and looked at
her.
The cutting edge of his gunblade was full of
blood, but also he had suffered from the battle. His skin was burned and he
bled from several deep wounds.
His face was totally pale.
"Quistis…", he whispered.
She could not hear his words, but she could
read her name from his lips.
He walked towards her with an unaccustomed look
on his face and kneeled down besides her.
"Quistis…"
She did not want him to come closer. Something
deep inside her soul refused to endure his nearness, but she was too weak to
resist him.
He touched her bloody face with his hands.
It ached.
"Now…", she whispered. "… the game is over."
She looked up at him. "And… you're… the winner… I… I…
always knew…" She coughed and blood from inside started to colour her lips dark
red.
Her eyelids started to weigh heavier than
before. She was so tired… she wanted to sleep… wanted to leave all the pain and
fear behind…
She closed her eyes.
"Quistis!! You're wrong! Come back!" He grabbed
her shoulders and started to shake her despairingly. "I'm not the winner. I'm
just losing the only thing on earth that kept me alive! Please, don't go!"
Everything became dark around her. His voice
faded away.
***
Then she woke up.
Lying in the darkness she first didn't know
where she was. She still had the taste of blood on her lips and the feeling of
burned wounds on her skin, but she instinctively knew that everything was
alright.
She felt cold sweat on her forehead.
'What a dream', she whispered.
She closed her eyes and waited for them to get
used to the darkness. When she opened them again, she saw where she was.
She was inside of the train on her way to
timber.
The compartment was so dark because they were
still in the underground tunnel that connected the different continents under
the ocean.
Trying to make as little noise as possible she
got up. Seifer was lying on the couch next to the window and slept. His
Hyperion leaned against the wall next to him.
Quistis watched the shining blade for a while.
The dream she had… it was so realistic… She
could not believe that it was nothing than a senseless nightmare.
She left the cabin and looked out of one of the
windows in the corridor of the train wagon.
Everything she could see was the black wall of
the tunnel rushing past her.
She knew that they would reach Timber in no
time.
Quistis wondered how Squall, Zell and Selphie
were doing helping the Forest Owls.
She knew that it was impossible for them to
liberate Timber from Galbadia with the help of three Seeds, but headmaster Cid
had given his orders and Squall would never refuse to follow them.
That was the reason why she and Seifer had
finally decided to leave Balamb together.
She had the feeling that Seifer had another
reason for wanting to support the Seeds in their Timber mission, but he had
refused to tell her about it.
She hoped he would not get them into trouble.
Her thoughts faded back to her nightmare…
She sighed.
"What are you thinking about?"
Quistis startled and turned around.
Seifer was standing behind her and looked at
her with a strange expression on his face. He still looked a little tired, too.
Quistis shrugged. "It's nothing. I just thought
about… our mission."
"Oh", Seifer replied in a manner showing that
he had expected a different answer and leaned against the wall next to her
staring out of the window. He behaved quieter than usual.
"I wonder how Squall's doing on his first
mission", she said after a while.
Seifer shrugged. "Who cares? If they fail to
protect Rinoa I'll do it myself."
"Rinoa?" Quistis asked. "Who's that?"
"The leader of the Timber Owls", Seifer
answered after a second.
Quistis nodded. She remembered headmaster Cid
talking of her. She was the one Squall had danced with at the Seed party.
They both remained silent for a while and kept
on looking out of the window.
Suddenly the outside of the window started to
become brighter and brighter and the tunnel came to its end.
The train dived out of the water again and
reached the continent.
Sunlight floated through the windows and
blinded her for a moment.
When she turned her head and looked at Seifer
she saw how pale he was.
"Is… is everything okay with you? You don't
look too good."
Seifer turned his head away quickly.
"It's nothing."
Quistis frowned slightly.
"Are you sure?"
"I just haven't slept to well", Seifer replied.
"That's all. Damned nightmares."
"A nightmare…?" Quistis repeated. "What… what
was it about?"
Seifer shook his head. "I'm not going to
discuss my dreams with my instructor. Let's get going. We'll reach Timber in
five minutes."
He walked back into the compartment.
After a moment of just staring into the
direction where he had disappeared she followed him visibly confused.
Could it be that…?
She shook her head.
Seifer grabbed his Hyperion and Quistis
tightened her whip to her belt.
"This is a strange train", she said more to
herself than to anyone else.
Seifer shrugged and walked past her.
While he passed by she glanced at his Hyperion
and became pale.
"Seifer…"
He turned his head. "What?"
Quistis did not say anything. She just stared
at the silver shining blade of his weapon.
It was full of blood.
Seifer gasped.
"What the hell…"
Quistis and Seifer stared at each other.
"This… this dream you had…" Quistis began.
"No." Seifer shook his head. "That's
impossible. That's just impossible."
Until they reached Timber nobody said a word.
When the train came to a halt, Seifer just
turned around and walked past Quistis trying to ignore the thought that were
haunting his mind.
After a moment Quistis followed him quietly.
'Something bad is going to happen', she thought
while leaving the train at Timber train station. 'I can feel it.'
Suddenly she wanted to return to Balamb Garden
as soon as possible.
Something terrible would happen to them.
Something she had to avoid. Something that would change her whole destiny.
"Seifer! Wait!"
She called behind him. "I start to understand
what this dream wants to tell me!"
I need you. I don't want to lose you. Come back
to me!
But he was already too far away to hear her
call.