TBIAD4
To be in a Dream
Chapter 3
Story by: Cessy Angel


It was with the bright lights coming from the early sun that woke me up. For several seconds I asked myself where I was, and then I remembered faintly what had happened earlier. But where was I now? I had a small idea, probably outside Wutai, but... where was Sephiroth? Had he left me here?

I did my best to stand up, I felt so weak. I didn't know if I had waken up, or if I was still dreaming. It seemed so real, but I knew the Wutai of today had changed. Was I in the old Wutai?

My hand brushed against the wall that was behind me as I slowly hoisted myself to my feet. It was warm, the sun shone heavily over the meadows beyond the gates. Heh, I didn't know a dream could have such sensations as heat and cold, Sephiroth had outdone himself. Wait, what was so humourous about this?

A young girl passed in the street, her mid-length brown hair blown away from her face as she ran out of the village in a small blue sun dress . She stopped suddenly as she was in the middle of a patch of pinkish flowers, no more than ten feet away from me, and looked back at me, her deep brown eyes looked at me as if I weren't there, but I was there.

"Where am I?" I asked, my voice was low and cracked. I lifted my arm and reached into thin air.

She continued to look at me, then turned around and headed back into the village. Hadn't she seen me? But I was in front of her, she looked at me! Now I was confused and angered.

My back hurt, but I managed to stand up without leaning on the wall. The gate was open not far in front of me, and so I began to walk towards it. No, wait, when was the last time Wutai had a gate? It used to have one during the war, but that was a long time ago. Just what was going on?

As I entered the village, I found it much more lively than it once had. Sellers had small booths on each side of the street, where numerous people were scattering about. I made my way through the crowd, but something was bothering me. No one seemed to noticed I was there!

My shoulder bumped against an old lady, but she didn't turn around nor did she even said a word, it was as if I weren't there, and yet I felt my shoulder bump into her. Now I was almost scared, my walk continued and once again I made certain that I brushed against one man's arm, but he did the exact same thing as the lady!

I began to run towards the Turtle's Paradise, occasionally pushing against another and finding the same reaction as before. I felt my heart race and my palms began to transpire. If I were to look into a mirror I would say that I look as if I had gone insane, but what was I to do?

The crowd was behind me, since I had entered somewhat the quieter part of Wutai. Only once or twice a small child would pass, but they would not paid any heed to me. Only once did I see the little girl in the blue sun dress, she kept looking at me as if I were there. But how could she look at me when everyone else could not? Maybe I was missing something...

A part of my hopes died as she gasped and ran away from where she was, heading towards the pagoda. I turned around, almost hesitantly, and I too gasped, be it in confusion or in happiness or in horror.

Face to face with me was Sephiroth, and he was grinning at me!

But this Sephiroth was different from the one in my dreams, he was different from the one in the Northern Crater and he was different from the one in Nibelheim. There was this gleam in his eyes.

"General Sephiroth, we have received news from Midgar." A somewhat small soldier dressed in a blue Shinra uniform came next to Sephiroth as he saluted him. In his right hand he held a opened letter and under his left arm lay his riffle.

"Yes?" Sephiroth asked cooly, but he continued to look at me. We couldn't have been more than two feet apart! But he turned his head around the face the soldier as he unfolded the letter and began to read.

"X Day/ X Month/ X Year,

Your mission will not commence until we give you notice. You will receive in less than a week the full details of the mission, but for now do some secretive observing as to what is Wutai's plan of attack. Be certain to inform us if there is any information that would be helpful for us. Do not bring any attention to yourselves. A rank B SOLDIER has been sent with more soldiers. He should arrive shortly."

The soldier stopped and looked back at Sephiroth.

"Is there any more?" He asked, looking down at the soldier's hands, in them laying another page, and on it a clipped on photo.

"Yes sir." He shuffled through the pages and handed out the one with the photo. I couldn't see it from where I stood, but I saw a grin appear on Sephiroth's usually cool face.

He lifted the picture off the page and looked at it for a while, then looked back onto the page. "Hm... rank B SOLDIER... from Nibelheim..."

He stopped, then turned away from the soldier. "And his name is Cloud Strife."

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