Author's Notes: Okay, so the prologue actually is written by Nida about a week after this first chapter. I'll try to note just where it occurs, but I would hope it is notable. Anyway, here's the beginning of the end.

Eden's Chosen – Part One

He felt like floating. His body was weightless in the darkness, cradled in a cushion of clouds. Clouds that both buoyed and restrained him, a cradle that left him floating yet kept him from moving. It was a sensation both pleasant and upsetting at once. It made it feel like the whole world was passing around him in the dark, and the restraint upon him was maddening. The oddest thing, though, was how familiar it felt to be held like this. There was warmth to the clouds, and as he tried to push towards that warm, a sound cut through the darkness.

"Save it for later."

The voice, the words, the snark that was inherent in it all was thick with Seifer Almasy, and that realization made his eyes shoot open. A, no the, big mistake of the da. No sooner did he try to open his eyes than he was faced with a painful, mind piercing light that made him shout in pain and throw an arm—an arm that screamed in pain from the motion—over his eyes. Seifer, of course, chuckled at the motion. Damn bastard enjoyed his torment, always had. That was why he worked so hard to not let Seifer knock him out in a fight. Still, the pain told him something. It was a pain that told him this was either due to too much drinking, some unrealized head trauma or GF related mental damage.

The former wasn't likely because he wasn't prone to drinking, the latter unlikely because Siren hadn't bothered to speak up to protest the idea that she could ever do anything to harm him, intentionally or otherwise. Which meant that head damage, despite the lack of a pain beyond that the light gave him, was the most likely cause to whatever was happening. Not that a blow to the head made much sense either. Still, training told him not to take the potential for injury lightly, and his hands immediately moved to feel for any lumps Seifer might have inflicted upon him.

"Hold still, dammit!" Seifer barked, his grip around Nida's body tightening. Well, that at least explained the sensation of floating. Cautiously Nida opened his eyes enough to peek out through his eyelashes and with blurry vision confirm his position in Seifer's arms. In the grand scheme of things that wasn't so bad, especially seeing as Seifer had at least chosen to carry him bridal style instead of over his shoulder. Yet he didn't know why he was being carried, and quickly decided that he didn't care if there was a chance someone was going to see him being hauled around by the Galbadia Garden SeeD Commander like this.

"Couldn't have picked a better fucking place, could you? Maybe a resort town or something? Why, for the love of Hyne, the middle of motherfucking Centra of all fucking places?"

Nida had no answer for the questions seeing as he had no clue what Seifer meant. Centra? Why would he be there? Or in a resort town for that matter? The last thing he remembered was his apartment in Esthar, a warm body at his side, and his phone ringing in the middle of the Hyne damned night. Wait, no... that wasn't right, was it? He remembered the caller was Squall, cutting in to his mandatory vacation time for something. What had it been?

Odine. Fuck. Fuck him, fuck Odine, fuck the world. Squall had wanted him to not only look over the information related to, but oversee the first testing of a miniaturized Time Compression bubble device that Odine had been working on with Rinoa's help. Of all the senior level SeeDs or others with training suitable to making sure Odine didn't overstep his bounds, Nida had possessed, supposedly, the proper combination of knowledge, reputation, and the least likelihood of either killing or maiming Odine for harassment or attempts to cut open his skull. So Squall had asked and Nida had obeyed, as he always did.

What he couldn't remember, though, was what happened after the moment Odine had turned the damn thing on.

"Put me down," Nida found himself hissing at the blond, his fingers pressed against his temples as a way to try to force away the pain in his head. "I can walk on my own." Okay, so maybe he was less sure of that than he sounded, but falling was better than this undignified position. Besides, it was better than being in just the right place to have Seifer's over-loud complaints right in his ear.

"Nope," Seifer insisted, his arms tightening almost painfully around Nida's chest and legs. His voice betrayed his true amusement with the situation. "Ice Princess said I wasn't to let you out of y sight. And even if I were to put you down, by the way lose some weight, I figure this is the best way to look after you."

"By carrying me around like your bride."

"Yep," Seifer replied, his grin both mocking and infuriating.

Well, at least Seifer was obeying orders, even if it was in his own way. One of Nida's major concerns with putting Seifer in a position of authority was that it could mean he would feel he didn't have to obey Squall's orders. It wasn't strictly true, because before anything else, Seifer was still a SeeD, which meant he ultimately reported to the SeeD High Commander in some cases. Still, the question begged to be asked as to why Seifer had come to Centra to find him—and why he was here himself—when he had responsibilities of his own.

"Since when do you pay such close attention to the word of Squall's orders?"

"Since his fucking flyboy, and in case you don't remember that's you, missing for two whole months finally and suddenly has his Hyne-damned tracker go off and required picking up. And, surprise surprise, it's not in Esthar or on the Space Station, or any of those places you like a lot, or even Winhill. No, he pops up in Centra, just when I'm visiting with Matron. I swear the tight ass worries you're going to disappear again any moment, like you did in Odine's lab. So here I am, following orders to the best of my ability, which means holding on to you, so if you go poof, Squall can't yell at me because I will too."

How was he supposed to react to that? Two months? How was that even possible?

"Two months? I've been gone two months?" he asked, his voice not concealing his confusion. None of this was making any sense. He'd disappeared from Odine's lab? If his memory—obviously flawed—was anywhere near correct, then he'd been certain that the experiment, the only thing that could cause a problem, was going to be a failure.

"Why? How long did you think you were gone?"

A year, Nida almost felt like saying, just to be sarcastic. Yet something felt weird about that amount of time. More than that, Seifer looked genuinely concerned with how Nida might answer. That, his years of training told him, suggested that Seifer expected a certain response, and at the same time he was afraid of it. Which left him racking his brain for something that could explain the concern. Or maybe for a memory that would either confirm Seifer's fears or lay them to rest. The problem was that he had nothing to offer. Just a flash of light, then the sensation of floating.

"A few seconds? Maybe a bit longer?" Nida offered, and Seifer's expression only darkened. "I don't know. One moment I was with Odine and Rinoa, then the machine was flipping out, there was pain... then Darkness and waking up to your ugly face."

"Seems like that machine fucked you up. Squall wants it destroyed," Seifer explained, and that didn't concern Nida so much as Seifer's lack of comeback. The blond was very confident, rightly so, with his looks. If it wasn't for Seifer's arrogance he might have even been attractive to Nida. As it was, the blond's lack of snark or knowing smirk said that even he had been concerned about Nida's disappearance.

"After you disappeared he was the bright one that figured the device had to do with your popping out. As if you could on your own. Figured it really did make a mini-compression, and hoped you'd know how to get back. We quietly started to check the sorts of places you might reappear in. We guessed Esthar, Winhill, Balamb, maybe just somewhere you'd been with logs of wind and birds. But you weren't anywhere. Then, bam, here you are, in the least likely place."

Was it the least likely place, though? As he looked around, really looked around, he started to notice the signs Seifer must have ignored. Odd patterns on the ground amid the sparse grass. Places where the ground was relatively flat and straight. The charred tree whose main bough twisted in a way that... was terrifyingly familiar.

"My family lived here."

The words came without bidding, and he knew the shock on Seifer's face was echoed on his own.

"You okay? You grew up in Winhill..." Seifer started, confidently. After all, he had been in Nida's childhood home once, hadn't he? Plus it was in all their records. Yet the words were right, they rang with certainty in his mind as he turned them over and over, inspecting them from every imaginable angle. At last he came to a conclusion he couldn't argue against, not with all of the details his mind was retrieving. He remembered a wind chime on a porch, the tire swing hung from the old tree, playing in the fields under the watchful eyes of family friends. The smell of fresh bread and the musical laughter of a woman that made his heart skip a beat.

"No," he said, slowly prying himself away from the things that could only be memories. "My biological parents. Before the war that orphaned us I lived here. There was a village, in the center of the fields. I lived with my mother and father. Elena and Samuel. Sheya. That was our name. But all I remembered at the orphanage was my first name. I was only five. Then Daphne took me in."

It was his name that brought Seifer to an abrupt stop not twenty feet from what was clearly his flier. Not that Nida could blame him for freezing. It wasn't often that a SeeD of Nida's level, especially one who worked so closely with Gfs, suddenly started to remember parts of their past, at least not without external stimuli. Most of the orphanage gang had only come to remember their shared past through luck and active prompting by Irvine. He, like Seifer, had abstained from abusing GFs in his training. Nida, though, had openly embraced the power GFs had offered him early on. What remained of his past was only the parts which he could reinforce with pictures, possessions, and friends. Not that words and items alone were enough. A few Zebalgans had claimed that he was the son of one of their n umber, but he hadn't believed it. Yet here he stood—figuratively—looking at proof of his blood, his past, and the life he had lived here. There really had been a small Zebalgan village destroyed by Sorceress Adel.

No wonder Zebalgans hated sorceresses. There was barely even the least sign that there had once been a village here.

"I suppose that must have been rattled loose by Odine's fuck up," was all Nida could offer as explanation. Maybe it was even right, because the memories would not stop coming. One in particular lingered over long, a vivid nightmarish dream of this village in flames. Hadn't Boyce Megill mentioned something about a boy who had foreseen such a fire? The very thought of it made him tremble.

"Sounds like not only Doc K is going to want time with you when you reach Balamb. Veringas is going to want to come in and hear about this."

All too true, but if he was lucky, Kadowaki would delay that for a while. For now it was probably better to try to come to terms with the flickers of memory on his own.

Well, maybe not entirely on his own. As Seifer resumed carrying him to the flier, Nida turned his attention inward towards the gentle and mournful touch of his GF, Siren.

People had been worried about him. Seifer had spent a decent portion of their lengthy flight back to Balamb going on, at length, about the attempts the Gardens had made at silently searching for him. No one had been willing to be too open, half concerned that his disappearance was more than what Odine had claimed, half worried about public reaction when a major power went missing. Even after the war had ended Nida and Irvine had been the center of an extreme amount of speculation and attention. One of the few reasons Nida hadn't has to deal with much attention in Esthar was because much of the little time spent outside of his apartment has been behind closed doors in the presidential palace.

It had taken him a while to convince Seifer that he needed to rest and think before they reached his home Garden, and in that time he'd learned of some of the changes he had missed. For one thing Seifer was over a month in to his new position as the Galbadian Headmaster, not to mention Irvine had been taken on as SeeD Commander under Selphie's role as Headmistress in Trabia. Those had been in the works before Nida's disappearance. That knowledge, though, made the sight through the windows of the flier more shocking. For all that it was well after sundown there was a large group of people standing just beyond the landing pad. Familiarity and common sense allowed him to pick out the full assembly of the Inter-Garden Council.

"How?" Nida asked, certain Seifer would understand the question when he saw where Nida was focusing.

"Squall called everyone in when your signal started broadcasting. I drew the short straw because of where I was. Not sure why, but in the end it saves us some time apparently. Come on, let's get you presented."

Before Nida could protest, Seifer's arms were back under his legs and around his torso, and there was little he could do to save face than just take it. Not that he would save much face. After all, these were the highest ranked Garden officials, his superiors in most senses of the word. Selphie and Irvine of Trabia Garden, Seifer and Fujin for Galbadia, Quistis and Zell as the leaders of Balamb, not to mention Squall. Once again they had all risen beyond his ability to match, not that he wanted their responsibilities. Though, now that he thought about it, he was the senior SeeD the Gardens had to command. The rest were administrators and leaders, he was the only one now with the freedom of deployment they used to enjoy, and would frequently need. When he looked at it like that it was hard to tell who really had it better. More importantly than that, if they had managed to keep his disappearance silent this could quite easily be interpreted by any onlookers as the last senior SeeD of his level left free to operate for the gardens returning from a long, dangerous deployment. But to reinforce that he could hardly allow Seifer to carry himi the rest of the way.

Nor could he just tell Seifer to put him down. The senior Balamb SeeD and—if all went as originally planned before his disappearance—Head Instructor for Balamb Garden could hardly expect a Headmaster of another Garden to obey him. Which meant there was only one way to turn the situation to his advantage. Granted it might result in a few bruises and some disciplinary action, but he was more than willing to risk both.

"Hey Seifer," he said, crooking his finger to imply that he wanted to whisper something important. Obligingly Seifer leaned his head closer, giving Nida ample chance to loop his arm around the blond's neck. With that he moved his other hand to rest on the one wrapped around his legs. It took no effort at all to find the right place to thrust his fingers in to attack the nerves. Seifer yelped in pain and when his hand jerked away Nida could feel himself falling. Even expecting this it was hard for him to react fast enough, but Nida found the support he needed in Seifer's neck so that he could swing his body down, letting his feet lightly touch the ground.

While there was some advantage to having gained his feet, there was now a brand new problem behind him in the form of an enraged Seifer. The Galbadian Headmaster lunged for him, and Nida just smiled as he dodged nimbly out of the way without so much as breaking stride. Not that a dodge was enough to stop Seifer. Far too soon there was a fist flying towards his temple, and Nida had to move even as he slid a foot out to trip the larger man. Not that he stopped there. Instead he kept advancing on the waiting group as if he couldn't notice Seifer falling behind him. It wasn't hard to pick out the smiles Selphie and Zell wore at the display, or Irvine's attempt to hide a chuckle by lowering his head so his hat could obscure his face. The others, though, only took it all in silently.

Soon, too soon, Nida stood before the trio of the two Headmistresses and the SeeD High Commander. Quickly he came to a stop and snapped off the smartest salute he could manage.

"Rank A SeeD Nida Nomura reporting in, sir. I ask that you forgive Headmaster Almasy. He mentioned something about being tired on our return trip. He insisted upon assisting me despite his own health."

Squall was, as a rule, rather inexpressive. He had long since perfected the outward stoicism he had developed as a teen, resulting in what seemed to be an older, harder man than the one who had saved the world. Yet the years had changed them all, and enabled Nida to come to know how ot read what wasn't being said. For instance the particular way that the skin barely crinkled around Squall's eyes revealed his actual amusement with the little show. The silence, though, carried a reprimand along the lines of 'there is a time and place for everything.'

"I see. I will have to speak to him later about flying in such a state. For now you are to report to Doctor Kadowaki for your post mission examination. I will see that you are delivered a clean uniform."

Odd how before that comment Nida hadn't bothered too look himself over. What litlte he could see revealed how pitiful he looked. The dust and dirt made sense since he'd been lying on the ground in Centra for a length of time. It was the smattering of tears that made little to no sense. Together with the first his uniformed looked like it had been through war and back, which made no sense at all.

"If I might hazard a suggestion, sir."

Three heartbeats passed in silence before Quistis cleared her throat and responded. She was, after all, technically his boss. "Yes, Nomura?"

"If you will excuse the bluntness, I'm quite tired, and the Doctor tends to be thorough in her examinations. It could be a while before she deems me fit enough to stand the full attention of the assembled Council..."

"Of course," Squall cut in, obviously reading the intended path of the comment. He was always the sharpest of the group. "The Council has its business to attend to that I would prefer to see to now. We will send someone for you when we are ready. Until then you are to report to Doctor Kadowaki."

He was torn between being thankful for the dismissal and concerned that their 'business' might be interrogating Seifer on what he had learned. But it was what it was and he intended to take the offered reprieve.

"Zell, check the records for Nomura's sizes and go to the stores for a spare uniform. Full rank and commendations of course." Quistis added, quickly stepping up to command the others even as Squall moved to reenter the Garden. "Fujin, would you be so kind as to go to the cafeteria before they shut down and inform them that the Doctor will likely be sending down instructions soon for a patient? Irvine, see Nomura to the infirmary. Inform Kadowaki that he is to report to the conference room when he is able to withstand debriefing. Tonight. Seifer, Selphie, come with me. We've a few matters that need discussed with Squall before require the input of our Commandres."

Seifer had barely reached Nida's side as Quistis breezed through her commands, and when his eyes met Nida's it was with the most vicious glare those green eyes could muster. It was actually quite impressive.

Then, like that, everyone was turning their backs on Nida and striding off at a brisk pace he knew his legs couldn't handle. It had taken too much to keep them from shaking these last few moments, and the second he no longer needed the strong facade, it failed hi.

"Irvine," he gasped as his legs went, but Irvine was already moving. His stronger than remembered arms were around Nida's waist almost immediately, and it no longer mattered that Nida could barely stand on his own. They remained like that for a few moments as Nida caught his breath and tried to force strength back into his legs; where he was going to find the strength to make it to the infirmary?

At the question he felt his skin start to burn as the power of an aura spell worked its way through his skin. The rush, normally meant for battle usage, was more than enough to find him throwing his arm around Irvine's neck and willing his legs into forward motion.

"Thanks," he whispered, knowing his body was going to punish him for the abuse later.

"No problem. Dreamt you would need it. Anyway, are you okay?"

Nida couldn't help but laugh. "Isn't that up to Kadowaki to decide?"

"Maybe it is. Maybe it is."

When he awoke Nida found his mind latching on to two odd facts: the room was far darker than he remembered it being when Kadowaki had been looking him over, and he was strongly relieved to find himself waking in a familiar place like the infirmary. The latter thought was strange enough that he took a moment to examine it before discarding the thought altogether. The former observation made him wonder just how long he had been unconscious.

"Don't worry," came Kadowaki's familiar, soothing voice from somewhere around his elbow. "You've only been out around seven hours. Not nearly enough, but I can never get you SeeDs to sleep long enough. It has given me time to rule out most major injuries and illnesses that I can test for in that time, and we've put some fluids in you as well. I do want to check your leg and arm later, to be sure that you haven't strained your old injuries, but that can wait."

As she spoke the Doctor wrote on a clipboard, taking a chance to look over a few monitors that Nida saw he was hooked up to. The pure lack of concern on her face made him sure that he really was fine enough, all things considered. Whether long term observation by her and Veringas would agree with the initial findings was still to be seen, but that was in the future.

It seems to me that your body is showing the same signs of strain that we saw from those who experienced time Compression. Likely a side effect of that idiot Odine's new toy. You should be fine in a few days. I could tell Squall and Quistis otherwise though, if you would like some time. I expect he is not going to be fun to see tonight."

"Sadly I don't think they're going to fall for that since we're already meeting at five AM."

Irvine was staring at the two from the door, an apologetic smile on his face as he approached the bed Nida was laying on. "Sorry. He told me to wake Nomura if he wasn't already awake, and take him to the conference room. Said not much reason to keep us around too long. Funny, right? The sooner we start, the sooner you can pack Nida back into a bed."

Kadowaki sighed, her expression beyond off put. "I don't think Squall should be telling me when to release my own patients. Let us not forget it is nearing five in the morning, not to mention that the boy has nearly eaten."

"You know Squall," Nida said, shifting so he was sitting up in the bed. There was some issue with trailing IVs and monitor cords. "Food will be waiting, and no doctor is going to get between him and what's in my head."

Irvine nodded in agreement. "Squall had food brought down for everyone, not just Nida. Just give me a list of what he can and can't have and I'll make sure he eats right."

"I need a uniform," Nida added as Kadowaki sighed and started to remove an IV from his arm.

It didn't take too much searching for Irvine to turn up the surprisingly pressed uniform hanging on the back of the door of Kadowaki's office. As he worked the slightly loose pants on Irvine started to update him on the vital gossip of the Gardens over the last several months. There was little surprsie that much of it related to his own lack of presence. Some of the best rumors were the utterly ridiculous, like the one where he'd been eaten by a herd of wild chocobos. Others were almost acceptable if their scale wasn't so idiotic, like taking on a stampede of Ochus alone, then getting lost in the forests after, completely delirious with poison. There were those that involved Seifer killing him for a variety of reasons. Irvine's personal favorite had Nida assigned to infiltrate a terrorist organization that Squall had personally taken out about a week back. That was the one Nida intended to make use of if Squall and Quisits had no other suggestions.

Neither of them had trouble picking out their least favorite of the vast array of rumors. One had Nida abandoning Garden to join the dead leader of the Zebalgans, Boyce Megill.

"I've been having nightmares about him," Irvine admitted in a whisper and the words made Nida shudder. Their dreams were hardly things to be taken lightly. While neither Nida nor Irvine had dreamed of anything major since the war, they still had to be worried about what they saw. Who knew which of the clearer ones, no matter how strange, would be true.

Nightmares about a dead man might not worry others, but they could spell the worst when they came from Irvine's or Nida's minds.

The very suggestion of Boyce put them both in a poor mood as they made their way to the conference room in the subbasement. In fact, neither of them spoke, caught up in the memories of Boyce's death, and the knowledge that the body had never been found. Seifer had once pointed out the classic movie and book trope that if the heroes didn't see the bad guy's body for themselves, then he was still alive. Not that things like that happened in real life, right?

Their arrival in the conference room was met by the sight of Seifer stealing the last hot dog from a tray, much to Zell's chagrin. Fujin snarled something at her superior, and Quistis rolled her eyes at the whole situation. The conflict had so much attention that it took Selphie's pleased cheer at the sight of Irvine to tear attention from the food. Squall, though, had looked up almost immediately, and said nothing at all. That left it all up to Selphie to announce their presence.

"Irvy!" she cheered, leaping from her seat and all but throwing herself in Irvine's arms. Almost immediately his hat was on her head and Selphie had turned to give Nida a bone crushing hug. "About time you're back! We were worried sick. Even Seifer was suppose worried, but he won't tell you. He went all over Esthar on his own. Can you believe that?"

No, and yes. He had been adopted into Seifer's posse during the recent war, and with that tie came certain expectations. Ties of allegiance, promises to help each other, and expectations to uphold the posse's reputation. That meant, of course, that Nida wasn't going to taunt Seifer with this tidbit. Not in public at least.

"NIDA!" Fujin shouted, her own way of greeting and reprimanding him at the same time.

"Selphie is right, so you know," Quistis added, smiling at him.

"Mu mphed fu mu," Zell coughed around the hot dog he'd stolen from Seifer.

Nida just smiled as Irvine pried Selphie off of him. Once free he made his way for his spot at the table. "Do you guys mind if I grab some food before you put me through the wringer?"

The question settled the others down a bit, and with their attention in getting ready for the meeting, he was free to load his pl ate with scrambled eggs and toast. The Doc apparently didn't want him eating anything more complex for now, which was all the same to him. Once he had a few mouthfuls down and had prepared a cup of coffee he started without prompting into his story. Everyone listened pretty attentively as he traced his memory from waking to Squall's call all the way through his theories on Odine's experiment. Then he covered what little he remembered of the experiment itself, leading up to the point where Seifer had found him and awoken him in Centra.

"While Seifer was complaining of where I wound up I looked around and realized that I knew the place. That I'd grown up there."

Everyone grew silent as he spoke, their expressions shocked save for Seifer's. Apparently he hadn't felt like sharing that detail with the others. Who knew what drove that man to act the way he did sometimes.

"But you're from Winhill, silly," Selphie assured him like she would a confused child.

"Let him speak," Squall cut in, not seeming quite so confused as interested.

"I was raised until I was five in a village on the Centran continent. Being there, in it's ruins, sparked the memory. No, more memories than that. They're still hard to process, they keep coming. But I know a lot, my last name for one thing."

"Which is?" Irvine apparently couldn't help but prompt.

"Sheya. I'm positive of it. Just like I knew so many other things. I remember the stories, the legends, playing with the other kids. Thinking about them, I'm certain my mother knew her bloodline, because she whispered different stories to me than those my father told of Zebalga and Vascaroon. It was a Zebalgan village. It burned down, was destroyed by the Sorceress Adel. I shouldn't remember any of this, but I do, clear as crystal. I don't understand it."

The table greeted him with silence, until at last Squall spoke, as unexpected as it was.

"It's possible that the memories are a side-effect of the miniature Time Compression you experienced. Odine will want to look you over, but it's best to send you to Veringas instead."

"Good on being his guinea pig again," Seifer laughed, earning a glare from Squall.

"This is serious. Either something went wrong or right," Quistis added.

"Not one I suggest going through. There is the pain, the disorientation, the disappearance, the lost time..."

"The nightmares," Irvine added, and Nida couldn't help but stare at him in confusion.

"Nightmares?"

The silence was of a kind that was impressive for so many people to hold. Sadly it lacked the specific kinds of meaning that Squall's had, leaving him only with the impression of nervousness. The worst part was that everyone was in on what made them nervous except for him. Yet as he tired to meet anyone's eyes to plead for an answer, they looked away. Except for Squall, whose eyes were steal, and Irvine, who looked annoyed.

"Are we seriously not going to tell him?"

"Tell me what?"

"We had Ellone search for you after you went missing," Squall said at length, his voice utterly flat, even for him.

"She reached you in a nightmare," Irvine continued when Squall would not. "A dream of Garden in utter ruin. You were on a bench in the entrance hall. You went on about how it was your fault for being gone so long. She asked how long. You said months. You were certain of it, that you had disappeared for real. That you were gone. Worse what what she saw in the ruins. The words 'Boyce,' 'Zebalga,' and 'Traitors' grafittied over all of the walls. She was there more than once too, though you ignored her after the first time, accusing her of being just a part of the dream herself."

All Nida could do was frown down at his food, trying to process it all.

"I... don't remember any of that. Sorry. I can't explain it, or say anything other than it makes my head spin."

Squall nodded in acknowledgment, "Understood. You're dismissed. Get some rest. We'll summon you later if we need anything else. For now we need to think about what we've learned here. Sleep well."

All he could do was shovel the rest of his food into his mouth, accept a slip of paper with his room assignment and access code from Quistis, and shuffle out of the room. There was so much to process. Especially the bit about the dream. It made no sense, not that anything today had. Yet somehow, in the pit of his stomach, it felt like something was starting.