Nightmares
by TacomaSquall
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This story owes full
credit to Astarte's magnificent tale, The Angel of Chaos. The settings and characters created in that
story are expanded upon in this tale, and have been used with her express
permission. For those interested in
looking at the story that spawned this tale, please look for it on www.fanfiction.net or at www.homestead.astartefics.com.
There are five stages
that complete what we call a cycle of sleep.
During a normal eight-hour rest period, a person will cycle through
these five stages repeatedly. The first
four stages are lumped together into the category of NREM sleep. These are stages when the body is at rest,
and is recharging. The third and fourth
stages of NREM sleep are collectively known also as Delta, or deep, sleep.
The fifth stage of sleep
is radically different from the other four stages. It is marked by a spike in brain activity, and a twitching and/or
fluttering of the eyelids. It is from
this activity that the fifth stage gets its name – REM (for Rapid Eye
Movements) Stage. It is during the REM
Stage that we dream.
Every time we enter REM
Stage (usually two or more times a sleep period), we dream. Every time…
Part One: REM Stage
Griever lay dead before
him, victim of the Lionheart. Around
him lay the bodies of his friends, slain by the fierce power of the greatest of
Guardian Forces. As he watched, their
bodies vanished into the time stream.
Irvine, Zell, Selphie, Raijin, Fuujin, Seifer - all dead at the hands of
this sorceress that sought to destroy all of time. Once again, Squall thanked Hyne that he had chosen to leave Rinoa
in his father's custody in Esthar.
Ultimecia rose up from
the ruins, the wounds he and his friends had dealt to her miraculously
healed. "Curse you, SeeD. I will make you regret your temerity in
attacking me here, in my stronghold.
Soon, you will join your friends, forever time-lost. And I will find your precious Rinoa and
seize her, using her power to take control of your dear sister."
Squall Leonhart screamed
in rage as he brought the Lionheart downwards with all of his might, cleaving
into the Sorceress Ultimecia. As his
blow struck home, her body shimmered, and he saw the form of the woman he
loved. "NO!"
Squall surged forward,
sheet and blankets thrown off of his body.
For a moment, he sat upright in the bed, his eyes unseeing in the early
Balamb morning darkness. His broken
voice whispered, "Rinoa, I killed you..."
Slowly, his eyes
adjusted to the darkness of his quarters.
Reality began to impinge upon Squall's senses. He shook himself, droplets of unheeded sweat flying from his
body. "It was only a dream. Another nightmare..."
Squall quickly pulled on
his clothes and set out for another early-morning session in the Training
Center. All he was able to find within
were Grats, the T-Rexaurs having been warned off by previous nocturnal
excursions by the scar-faced SeeD over the past three months. In such a manner, Squall fought against the
urge to return to sleep, where the nightmare awaited him.
Eventually, the fatigue
won out over Squall's adrenaline rush from the danger of the Training
Center. Near the Draw Point contained
inside, Squall's knees buckled. His
gunblade sliipped from nerveless fingers, and he was asleep before his head hit
the turf.
* * * * * *
That morning, Zell was
thrilled. For the first time in a dog's
age, he had got up early enough to be the first in line for the Garden
Cafeteria's hot dogs. Already, he could
taste the succulent meat on his taste buds.
He could feel the hot dog's skin give way to pressure from his teeth,
releasing the tender meat contained within...
"Hey,
Chicken-wuss! Are you going to get your
food, or just stand there?"
Seifer's taunt had the desired effect upon the blond-haired martial
artist, awakening him from his fantasy of gastronomic bliss.
Zell smiled and walked
forward. He looked back at the slender
blond man. "I'm moving,
scarface." It felt so strange to
have the man who had betrayed the Gardens during the Second Sorceress War as a
member of Garden faculty. When Squall
recommended the former Sorceress' Knight for the post of weapons instructor,
however, there was far less protest than any of Squall's companions had
expected.
Zell picked up his tray
and walked to the window, where the Garden's Cafeteria staff waited, with
Zell's prize. He pulled up short, when
he heard a commotion behind him. He
turned.
It was Selphie. The Garden's self-styled mistress of
festivals was in anything but a festive mood.
Her yellow mini-skirt was spotted with blood, and it coated her
hands. She wore a terrified expression
on her face.
"Squall was mauled
by a Granaldo in the Training Center!"
Her dismay raised the already-soprano voice of the perky SeeD another
octave. "Dr. Kadowaki is not sure
she will be able to save him!"
Zell, for the first time
in his life, forgot hot dogs as he dashed from the Cafeteria. As he sprinted to the Infirmary at a speed
that would have made Rowan King proud, he checked his Junctions. He had a full load of Full-Life spells. He hoped they might be of some use to Dr.
Kadowaki, who focused on using technological means to heal her patients.
Looking behind him, he
saw that Seifer and Selphie were pacing him.
He was amazed to see that the cocky SeeD looked just as concerned as he
felt. Perhaps even someone who is as
much of a pain as Seifer can change.
He made the turn to
enter the Infirmary. He skidded to a
halt when he saw the trail of blood on the floor, from where Squall's blood had
fell as he was carried from the Training Center. His heart almost stopped, as he realized that if this line of
dying blood was any indication, his friend was already knocking on Death's
door. Subconsciously, he ordered the
Brothers and Diablos, both currently Junctioned to him in preparation for a
mission to Esthar, to Junction to Squall, in an effort to bolster the SeeD's
failing health.
The two Guardians
complied, lending additional vitality to the fallen SeeD. Zell, Selphie and Seifer entered the
observation room, where they could see Dr. Kadowaki operating on Squall.
* * * * * *
Squall worked his way
from the twilight of unconsciousness. Are
you well, Lionheart?
Squall was amazed to
hear the voice of the Ice Guardian, Shiva.
In his recollection, never had a Guardian Force spoken with the one it was
Junctioned to. He struggled to speak,
and found that he could not move his jaws.
Do not
speak. We can hear your thoughts.
What happened to
me? The last thing I remember was
stopping by the Draw Point, Squall
thought. He struggled to open his eyes,
and realized that his body was not currently under his control.
You fell
asleep. While you slept, a Granaldo
attacked you. Its tail paralyzed you,
and then it began to feed on your flesh.
If it had not been for the Mistress of Doom, you would have died.
Who is the Mistress of
Doom?
I believe that
you would call her Selphie.
My dreams...
It is our belief
that the one you are bonded to is in grave danger, Lionheart. As her Knight, you have felt the danger that
threatens her as it reaches across time to draw her into its grasp.
But Ultimecia is dead! Squall was
incredulous. He saw her time-usurping
form dissolve during Time Compression a year ago.
You must
remember, Ultimecia made other attempts to compress time. She failed in those others, and settled upon
using your adopted sister as the conduit for her power. It was only when she seized Ellone Loire
that she succeeded in uniting all time periods.
You mean?
This may very
well be one of her attempts at Time Compression from before she tried to use
Ellone.
Then it is doomed to
fail, without us doing anything!
We do not know
why she failed in her previous attempts.
We do know that she had reason to hate SeeDs from before she compressed
time. If you and your friends do not
oppose her, it may be that she will be able to succeed, and all of the
victories you have won will be rendered moot.
With that last chilling
message, Squall felt Shiva's presence leave him. His eyes flickered open.
* * * * * *
Seifer paced back and
forth in the lobby of the Garden Infirmary.
Never had it been one of his favorite places in Balamb Garden. Squall had better be alright…
Seifer could feel both
Chicken-wuss and Little Miss Cheerleader follow him with their eyes. Each time he turned on his heel, he could
catch them looking away, afraid to be caught staring at the Sorceress'
Knight. Afraid that he might be
offended by their suspicions about his worthiness.
That was funny. Seifer agreed wholeheartedly with them. He could better understand their suspicion
than he could Rinoa's efforts to forgive Seifer for the things he had
done. Seifer knew that Squall's
insistence, that the tall gunblade master be permitted to teach SeeDs,
originated in Rinoa's insistent demands to give Seifer a chance to redeem
himself. Seifer scowled. And when she badgered me into taking this
opportunity, I discovered that I, too, was still unable to say no to her.
He looked up as the door
to the operating theater opened. Doctor
Kadowaki stood in the opening. She looked
at the two SeeDs and the Sorceress' Knight.
"He's asking for the three of you."
Seifer followed the
other two into the operating theater.
The room was in the process of being scrubbed by a young nurse from
Balamb town, named Lidia. She looked up
as they entered, and rushed out of the room, bearing a bundle of used
implements to be washed and sterilized before reuse. The door behind her swung closed with a thud that reminded Seifer
of the sound made when a dud was fired by gunblade.
Sitting up on the
gurney, Squall looked a fright. His
chest was crisscrossed with slashes from the spikes of the Granaldo. A bandage covered his side, which was
already starting to show discoloration from the bleeding it was
containing. The flesh around the
dressing was a sickly purple hue. Worst
of all, his gunblade arm was wreathed in bloodstained fabric, covering the
wounds inflicted by the monster's jaws.
Weakly, he looked at the
trio in front of him. Seifer was
shocked to see the state his former rival was in. Always, I could count on him to be my equal. Right now, he isn't the equal of those
Galbadian bumblers, Wedge and Biggs!
Softly, Squall
spoke. "I need the three of you to go
to Deling City. Rinoa is in danger."
Zell interjected, "What
about you? Aren't you going to be
there?"
"As soon as I can. But I need the three of you to keep Rinoa
safe until I get there."
Seifer grimaced. "Why are you sending us haring off after
Rinoa? Chicken-wuss here has an
assignment to Esthar, pursuing gunrunners."
He gestured at Zell, who bristled at his comment. "And Selphie is supposed to go back to
Trabia tomorrow, to work with the reconstruction team. What urgent threat requires that they be
sent, much less alongside someone they don't trust?"
Squall looked away. "I can't tell you," he whispered.
Seifer stood right in
front of his former nemesis. "You owe
me, Leonhart! What is this about?"
Squall sighed. "From what I gather, Ultimecia is behind the
threat to Rinoa."
Seifer felt his skin
crawl with revulsion at the Sorceress' name.
He also felt a cold spike of fear enter his heart. If it is Ultimecia, how will I be able to
resist her?
To be continued…
