CHAPTER 3
THE FAIRIES ARE HERE!
For a long time, he had wished to speak to that man, the one he had impersonated on his dreams. He had wished to discover why he was seeing him on those recurring dreams; why he was exploring him through his adventures and subconscious, and even, experimenting his deepest emotions. It was that man of long hair, owner of a machine gun, a soldier from the great continent of Galbadia who had fought in a war, fell in love with a pianist and finally, after an incident, had ended up in small town taking care of the monsters' infestation, all in order to protect that woman that had so taken care of him when he was badly injured, and for the love of the little girl he so much appreciated as if she was his own daughter... which he coincidentally knew well.
He had so wished to meet that man to ask him about so many things that at the moment he met him, he simply could not speak everything that was on his mind. He had suddenly appeared in a forest along that man and was left mute. The man, on the other side, was as talkative as ever, trying to figure out what was going on through many questions.
"So, you say your name is Squall" the man told him "and that you are from a place… Balamb Garden, you say?"
"Yes" Squall spoke frankly
"You claim to be a SEED and you say you know me?"
"Yes" Squall repeated
"But how can it be…? I don't remember you!" the man said
"I saw you…but in dreams…" Squall clarified
"In dreams?!" the man exclaimed "well, let's see… what's my name again?!" the man said
"Laguna" Squall responded
"Wow! You really know it! Um… let's see…what else can I ask to prove…?"
"That woman… Julia, you loved her"
"Woah! Woah!" Laguna exclaimed "Ok! I believe you! Say no more!" Laguna said and walked closer to Squall "but don't give me such a worried face! Let's focus on the matter at hand and we can think about your strange dream later!"
In fact, there was their sudden transportation to that mysterious forest neither of the two knew about. Squall wondered if that would be some kind of trick played by Ellone. Indeed, it could be the case considering her powers. He did not discard it could be nothing but an illusion or another dream and that maybe, even his encounter with Laguna, could be nothing but that as well. He would not easily trust his eyes; he was to figure out the truth before assuming anything. Squall had lost himself in thoughts when he was adverted by Laguna's voice.
"You are very quiet, aren't you?" Laguna told him "I'll say it again, don't worry too much! Take this as an adventure, ok? We'll find our way back! I have to go looking for Ellone!" he exclaimed
"Ellone… the little girl…" Squall said "I know her…"
"You really know it all!" Laguna exclaimed "maybe you are the fairy we joked about"
"The fairy?"
"Never mind… but it's not fair! You know so many things about me and I know nothing about you… you have to tell me more about yourself, ok?"
"…"
"…guess that won't be easy…"
They kept walking without direction, searching for any sign of people staying nearby. Laguna kept talking, saying a joke, then another one, laughing around… Squall could not believe he could be so easy-going even when being lost. Soon it will be late- Squall thought- and we don't even have anything to eat, yet this guy seems to have no problem with that… maybe it's because he was in the army and has been into worse, or maybe he's just plain stupid…
And then suddenly, as if the things could go no worse, the sky went grey and a heavy rain began falling without prior notice. It was so intense they lost sight of each other in an instant and they could no either hear each other… because of that, it was in no time they separated. It was that moment when Squall truly began to believe maybe it had been actually an illusion… there was no way he could encounter that man from his dreams, wasn't it? Or at least that's what his mind was telling him… not exactly what he truly wished to be real. He went into a cave he just found on his way and hid there to wait for the rain to pass. He sat down near the entrance and glanced to the forest once again, maybe Laguna was still there, he wondered. It would be nice if he was still around there, he thought. After all, he still had many things he wanted to ask him. He promised to himself, next time he would see him, he would make all the questions. Only if the two were ever to find each other again, if they ever were. He breathed deeply… he was torn between what his mind, cool and collected, was telling him and what his heart wanted. But it had always been like that for him, hadn't it? Mainly because he had decided to lock up his heart in order to keep it away from the cruelty of the world… the world was a harsh place, a place to face with both your feet on the earth… unlike that Laguna guy, that guy with his mind always up in the clouds…
Squall was serene, looking at the rain when he heard steps coming from inside the cave. Those steps sounded heavy and were drawing closer to his location. He stood up and grabbed his gunblade on his hand; he had nowhere to hide so he just waited… whatever may arrive him, he would counterattack. He was no planning on running away, that was not the way a SEED like himself handles things. As the sound of the steps approached him, it intensified and even more steps could be heard. How many were there? Maybe two, at maximum… one of them could be wounded, his steps sounded weaker. He kept waiting. Then, two shadows arose from the very bowels of the cave and what he saw was something he would have never expected: a young man and a chocobo. The man was carrying a pot and some bread. Squall lowered his weapon… it seemed they were only travelers who may have been trapped in the cave because of the rain as well.
"Ah! Hey! You are locked here because of the rain too?!" the young man spoke to Squall
The SEED agreed.
"Boko and I got stuck as well… we just came from the town" the young man said
"So there is a town…" Squall thought
"You have quite the interesting weapon there" the wanderer continued talking "I've never seen one like it, how do you call it?"
"Gunblade" Squall told him and then thought "(he is not afraid of weapons… maybe he's no ordinary wanderer)"
"Wow! Interesting… well, it seems we are going to stay here for a while" the wanderer said "so guess we can both rest here… you are not some kind of marauder or something like that, right?!" he exclaimed "you were not planning on killing us with that blade of yours, right?"
"No…" Squall said
"Hahaha! Ok! Fine! What's your name? I'm Bartz! And my friend is Boko"
"Squall…"
"Have you eaten yet?" Bartz said "we still have some soup and bread left if you would like some"
"No, it's fine…" Squall said
Bartz shrugged and left the food in a corner, then, he went sitting near the entrance of the cave but at quite some distance from Squall. His chocobo went right behind him and sat down as well, making himself comfortable while shaking his feathers rapidly. Squall returned to his position and relaxed. He went back to staring at the rain; he had no intention of speaking with Bartz, yet he could not help thinking and once in a while glancing at the wanderer and his chocobo… the young man was dressed in a very peculiar manner he had never seen before and the fact that he was being accompanied by a chocobo just made everything even more unusual. And then for a second, he remembered that Laguna had spoken about a fairy before so, maybe he had been right and there was indeed a fairy on those lands… maybe that man with the short cape and loose clothes was that mystical being.
"Are you the fairy?" he plainly asked
"A fairy?!" Bartz exclaimed "is there a fairy around here?!"
"No, I mean…" Squall said "are you a fairy?"
"Ah! I don't think so…" the man said "have you seen a fairy before?"
Squall refused.
"Me neither…" Bartz said "I've seen werewolves though…"
"Werewolves…"
"Yeah… there aren't many werewolves at all in many villages, they live in Quelb"
"Haven't heard of that place"
"Well, maybe that's because it is in the other world… I just forgot about that…"
"The other world, you say…"
"Yeah! You know! The one the meteors came from!"
"Fairies… werewolves, and meteors" Squall thought "and a strange guy with a chocobo friend… what else?!"
When his thoughts revolved on his mind, also did the wind that flew into the cave with violence. Because of it, they closed their eyes for a couple of seconds and when they reopened them, they noticed the chocobo was up and anxious. Bartz asked him about his sudden change on attitude; the enormous bird, with his beak, pointed the site where Bartz had left the food. The wanderer and Squall both turned their sights towards that place and found a short person hidden under a long cape and hoodie, kneeling right in front of the food. Both warriors alarmed, Squall picked up his sword once again; Bartz hurried himself, unarmed, towards the stranger and demanded him about his identity.
"Heh heh… you caught me…" the stranger said "guess… I'm not doing that well today…heh…"
"Who are you?" Bartz asked him again
"Easy, man…" the person said, his voice was that of a young man "we can sort this up the easy way… see, I just need some food, just that… I was going to ask for it but you seemed busy talking so, I just didn't want to interrupt you"
"Sure" Squall thought "as if I don't recognize a thief when I see it…" then he spoke to the man while yet carrying his weapon "show us your face and tell us your name!"
"Ok, fine! Fine!" the young man said and turned, he removed the hoodie from his head, showing his blonde hair and his tired blue eyes. He was, indeed, but a young man around sixteen.
"Your name" Squall said
"Hahaha! Chill out!" he said to the SEED "the name's Zidane"
"So, are you a thief?" Bartz asked him
"I'm no thief!" Zidane said "I… I was going to ask for the food, remember?"
"Oh…right… that…" Bartz said
"So, you guys are traveling together?" Zidane said "quite the bad weather we have today, eh?"
"Yeah, it's been pretty bad" Bartz said
"Don't let your guard down" Squall said to Bartz as he noticed he had already lost focus on the matter at hand
"So, guys" Zidane said "can I ask you now if you could spare me some food? You know, it's been a hard day for me… I've been lost in this forest for quite a while and this strange pressure in my chest that never leaves… come on, guys! It won't be that much!"
"Um… ok?" Bartz said
"Thanks, man!" Zidane exclaimed "I will pay you some day, I promise!"
"The promise of a thief…" Squall said
Zidane picked the pot and one of the remaining breads and stood up but as he did, the wind blew stronger once again and entered the cave with violence. As it did, it made the cape covering the short man, fly away, revealing his long yellow tail.
"You have a tail!?" Bartz exclaimed surprised.
Zidane remained quiet as if he could not grasp why Bartz would be that astonished by the fact. Squall just thought:
"And now we have a monkey… we really are only missing the fairy now…"
Bartz was left in complete astonishment; Squall thought it was impressive for a man who had claimed to have seen werewolves would be so surprised by the sight of a tailed-man.
"Well… this kind of tail is not that common in Tifa but hey! Many guys and girls have tails! Take the cleyrans for example and… there are many others! I can tell!"
"Are you from another planet?" Bartz asked him
"Another planet…? Um… well… I don't know!" Zidane exclaimed "but that's completely fine! Ah! I'm so hungry!" he exclaimed and sat down, giving a big bite to the bread.
"What?!" Zidane immediately exclaimed as he noticed the other two were left in silence "I'm hungry and it's raining too much! I'm not leaving yet"
"I'll keep an eye on you then" Squall told him
"Take it easy, Squally! I don't bite! Hahahahaha!"
"I know, you steal"
"I won't steal from you… unless you know a pretty girl I can take from you hahahahaha!"
"Are you here by yourself?" Bartz asked Zidane
"Yeah… I remember I was sleeping comfortably when suddenly I had a really weird dream and then, I suddenly appeared in this forest!"
"What?! Same happened to me?!"
"A dream of a light" Squall said "and a man in shiny armor speaking something about crystals and warriors"
"It's the same dream!" Bartz exclaimed
"Then…you two are…" Squall said "warriors of light?"
"Yes! That's what he said!" Zidane exclaimed "guess we are allies then"
"Oh! Thank the Great Tree of Moor!" Bartz said and sat down "I can relax now…"
"Sounds good to me too" Zidane said "you have food and I have the best sort of skills to get out of this forest"
"You climb trees?" Squall asked him
"Heh! And so much more! I'm rather popular with girls!"
"A smooth talker…"
"Take it easy! Everything will go well!" he said and stood up once again; he walked towards the exit of the cave and stared at the pouring rain "once the rain passes, we go all out… our friends must be out there"
Zidane remained silent for a while; he kept looking at the rain, it was falling so heavily and the cry of the water drops crashing against the grass of the forest, made it difficult to listen to the others who were inside the cave. He thought he had heard a voice or two but his ears were already completely deaf. He felt a restricting sensation on his heart and his chest felt heavy. He held it with his hands and he almost lost balance. After regaining it, though, he directed his sight to the forest again and for a second, he thought he had seen a familiar yet undesirable figure.
"So this is your trick, you bastard!" he exclaimed and went running under the rain but just to fall miserably right after.
Squall and Bartz both surprised as they heard him scream. When they both arrived, they found the young man unconscious at some few steps out of the cave, strange enough it was that when both reached him, the rain abruptly stopped. The SEED and the wanderer arose their heads just to discover, right over, the silhouette of an enormous airship.
