Title: Silence
Author: charon
Rating: PG-13
Status: One shot
Note : Something I wrote and published 2 years ago. I revisited it since I am writing an FF8 fic right now and decided to correct a few grammatical errors that I could find. This fic is the beginning for a longer fic that had gone too long winded. I guess this fic is nice just the way it is, in this shorter form. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. Reviews are appreciated :)
Disclaimer : All FF8 characters used are owned by Square. I'm just borrowing them for the fic.
Silence
She walked alone in the eerie silence of the city. It was too silent as if the time had stopped and now is eternity.
Where is everyone? She looked around for some sign of life. What happened?
She halted in mid-step and turned around slowly.
But there was nobody but the silence and the sense of emptiness.
She walked on cautiously until she found herself standing before an aging clock tower, standing between newer high-rises as if defying time itself.
She looked up at the yellowed face of the clock, a few numbers missing yet both hands still intact. She stood and watched, waiting for the minute to move even a little just to prove to her that it still works. That time still moves.
What are you waiting for?
She turned around sharply, her hand instinctively reaching down to the chain whip but what she felt was only the fabric of her dress. She looked down with horror to find her priceless weapon gone.
How long will you wait?
She shifted her eyes to the street yet she was still alone. She swore she heard it, she even sensed that someone was there. The voice, she knew the voice but she couldn't put her finger on it. Had her imagination playing tricks on her?
She backed away slowly, ready for an escape.
Without her weapon, there was still magic to depend on, but the loneliness, the silence was beginning to put a toll on her mind. It was too silent that the sound of a dropped pin could be heard. What if she could never get out of there, what if she was doomed to be in that state forever?
Cold skeletal fingers of hysteria caressed her mind. She shook her head rapidly, as if it will stop from claiming her whole. It was all in vain as she began to feel the rapid thumping of her heart and the blood pounding in her ears as the hysteria consumed her completely.
Gone were the careful and practiced steps as she stumbled to run from the unseen threat. Running away from the silence.
But to where, she didn't know. As pain started to surge in her chest and side, she stopped and leaned against a wall. She looked upward and what she saw stunned her further.
It was the clock tower. Had she been running in circle?
Suddenly, she felt the presence again.
She turned slowly, as if knowing that this time she will see him.
He stood there, tall with his jacket billowing gently with the wind. But his familiar face was looking at her with so much hate, that the eyes were glowing with a vicious shade of gray.
"You're on the list, Instructor," he said and without waiting for respond he dashed towards her, grasping her neck tightly before she could even raised her hands for a spell and pushed her against the wall.
"Everything I did was never enough," his face was so close against her that she could feel his breath, warm against her temple as she struggled against his choking hand. "It has always been him. He is your favorite everything!"
From the corner of her eyes, she caught a white glint of steel in his other hand. Then she saw him leveling the Hyperion against her bosom. Her eyes widened as her heart froze.
His face came yet closer until his lips brushed hers in a gossamer touch. And in a silky whisper, he uttered, "Not anymore" as he pushed the gunblade unhurriedly, piercing through the skin with the cold ruthless steel. Her eyes widened, she screamed yet no voice came from her throat. The deadly pain spread through, unforgivable. She struggled uselessly as the blade went deeper, mercilessly slow. Her face contorted as she screamed the silent scream before suffocation assailed her. The blade had pierced her heart and it ceased from pumping...
She stopped struggling and gazed at him emptily. But in her mind, she saw tears in his eyes. He leaned close and kissed her lips before releasing her, pulling the blade with him. She slumped to the ground, slowly stiffening in the silence.
She gasped and shot her eyes open, only to be greeted by the darkness of the bedroom and the breeze. The recollection of the dream brought her hands to her neck and then down to her chest. Everything were intact, everything felt right except for her thumping heart. She turned to her side to see if she had awakened her two companions. Selphie's slight frame was cozily covered under the sheet, her breathing even, while Zell's bulkier body was slightly snoring and half covered, with his naked chest gleaming under the moonlight, fast asleep.
She turned to her side, willing her heart to calm down. She wasn't sure what to do next. She was afraid to sleep again. Afraid of the loneliness, afraid of the same nightmare that would return.
Her eyes stung and her vision became blurry. She closed her eyes and tears trailed down her cheeks. So alone, even with the presence of the two. Quistis Trepe, the young instructor curled herself into a fetal position and wept.
fin.